Leinster rise to the summit

* In other Saturday matches a second-half blitz saw Glasgow Warriors down Benetton Treviso 38-16 in Italy, as they clambered into the Pro12 play-off places with a bonus-point triumph.

* Cardiff Blues kept their top six hopes alive, denting the Scarlets semi-final ambitions in the process with a 28-22 Pro12 win at Parc Y Scarlets.

All the Saturday matches!

Scarlets 22-28 Cardiff Blues

Cardiff Blues kept their top six hopes alive, denting the Scarlets semi-final ambitions in the process with a 28-22 Pro12 win at Parc Y Scarlets.

Lloyd Williams and Tom James went over in the first half for the visitors, with Gareth Anscombe adding his first Pro12 try in the second half.

However John Barclay's try with nine minutes to go got Scarlets right back into it, but they eventually had to settle for a losing bonus point.

The visitors made a strong start and when James Davies was penalised for hands in the ruck Anscombe slotted a simple penalty to make it 3-0.

And they had soon increased that lead when Lloyd Williams sniped over from close range following some good work from the Blues backline.

Anscombe converted, and at 10-0 the Blues were in danger of running away with it. The Scarlets hit straight back though. When Ellis Jenkins was penalised at the breakdown, Dan Jones knocked over the resulting penalty.

And he soon had another to cut the deficit to four, but still the Blues looked the more dangerous team.

That soon turned into points when they had their second try, Tom James finishing off the move. After a good break from Rhys Patchell, the Blues came back to the right and Dan Fish was stopped just short of the line.

The Scarlets defended ferociously but eventually the pressure told and James showed his power to get over on the left. Anscombe's conversion from the touchline was off-target.

The home side got back to within a score when they earned a penalty from a scrum, with Jones nailing his third kick of the afternoon.

In the closing stages of the first half Anscombe pushed the lead back to nine points with a second penalty of the afternoon after Jake Ball was penalised in front of his own posts.

Trailing 18-9 at the break, the Scarlets closed the gap early in the second half through Jones, but Anscombe quickly cancelled that out with his third penalty of the game.

Good work from Davies allowed Aled Thomas, on for Jones, to knock over a fifth Scarlets penalty and make it a one-score game again.

But after earning a penalty at the breakdown, Davies found himself pinned into a ruck soon after, however from long-range Patchell couldn't split the uprights.

Still, the Blues looked to have wrapped up the win just after the hour as Anscombe ran in their third try.

After some good defence by the Blues, they got the ball back from a charged down Hadleigh Parkes kick. James then sliced through, found Anscombe inside him and the fly-half dummied to beat the final man and score. He converted his own try to make it 28-15.

Heading into the final ten minutes, Scarlets had it all to do, but a scrum against the head followed by a powerful charge by Barclay got them right back in it. Thomas converted to cut the Blues lead to six points.

And with six minutes left Josh Turnbull was sin-binned for holding down a player off the ball as the Scarlets went for the win.

But they couldn't find a way through and the Blues held on for the four points.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:

Try: Barclay

Con: Thomas

Pens: Thomas, Jones 4

For Cardiff Blues:

Tries: James, Anscombe, Williams

Cons: Anscombe 2

Pens: Anscombe 3

Yellow card: Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues, 73)

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Michael Collins, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Morgan Allen, 7 James Davies, 6 John Barclay, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (captain), 1 Rob Evans.

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Peter Edwards, 19 George Earle, 20 Maselino Paulino, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Gareth Owen.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Dan Fish, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Tom James, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 James Down, 4 Josh Turnbull, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins (captain).

Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Brad Thyer, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Jarrad Hoeata, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Aled Summerhill.

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)

Assistant referees: Wayne Davies (Wales), Greg Morgan (Wales)

TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)

Benetton Treviso 16-38 Glasgow Warriors

A second-half blitz saw Glasgow Warriors down Benetton Treviso 38-16 in Italy as they clambered into the Pro12 play-off places with a bonus-point triumph.

Treviso had not beaten a Scottish opponent since March 2014, while their failure to record a win over Glasgow stretches back to September 2011 - now a run of nine fixtures.

The Italians trailed early on thanks to tries from Jonny Gray and Peter Horne but actually took a two-point advantage into half-time thanks to Angelo Esposito's score and the boot of Jayden Hayward.

But in the midst of a fierce battle for a play-off place, Glasgow knew they couldn't afford to lose and former Treviso star Simone Favaro, full-back Stuart Hogg, Grayson Hart and James Malcolm ensured they left Stadio Monigo with a comfortable victory.

Glasgow headed to Italy on a five-match winning run and after an early feeling-out phase, Gray opened the scoring on 12 minutes - bursting over the line after an extended period of pressure.

Finn Russell duly added the conversion but his opposite number Hayward soon pegged Glasgow back to 7-6 with a pair of quickfire penalties.

To their credit, Treviso continued to pressure the visitors but were caught out on 29 minutes as the Warriors showed an ability to turn defence into attack that will serve them well in the season's final weeks.

A sublime break from Henry Pyrgos put Glasgow close to the opposition line and Horne was on hand to crash over from close range with Russell's conversion making it 14-6.

But once again the hosts were undeterred by conceding points and a slick team move from the halfway line deservedly got them a first try of the game.

A scything move sliced open the Scots' defence and Esposito rounded it off with Hayward adding the extras to narrow the deficit to a single point.

And the New Zealander continued to be metronomic from the tee as his long-range three-pointer just before the break ensured that Treviso went into half-time 16-14 ahead.

With their top-four hopes hanging by a thread, Warriors unsurprisingly came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing and Favaro dived over the whitewash from close-range against his former team to put Glasgow back in the ascendancy.

Treviso had won two of their last three matches at Stadio Monigo heading into this clash and maintained hope of making that three from four in this encounter as solid defence continually denied the Warriors a bonus-point try.

But the inevitable breakthrough came on the hour mark as the in-form Hogg - recently named as player of the Championship for the Six Nations - danced down the right flank and escaped the attempted defenders to dot down.

A fifth try came with 13 minutes remaining as Hart snuck over before another period of intense pressure produce try number six with Malcolm crossing the whitewash.

And although a seventh try was not forthcoming, the Warriors left Treviso with mission accomplished as they will now stay in Italy ahead of a clash with Zebre next Friday.

The scorers:

For Benetton Treviso:

Try: Esposito

Con: Hayward

Pens: Hayward 3

For Glasgow Warriors:

Tries: Hogg, Horne, Favaro, Gray, Malcolm, Hart

Cons: Russell 4

Teams:

Benetton Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Sam Christie, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni (captain), 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Filo Paulo, 3 Filippo Filippetto, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Alberto De Marchi.

Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Andrea De Marchi, 22 Alberto Lucchese, 23 Luke McLean.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Gordon Reid.

Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 D'Arcy Rae, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Tyrone Holmes, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Glenn Bryce, 23 Lee Jones.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Assistant referees: Claudio Blessano (Italy), Gregorio Piran (Italy)

TMO: Stefano Pennè (Italy)

Leinster 16-13 Munster

Leinster secured a Pro12 double over Munster and moved to the top of the table after hanging on for a 16-13 victory at the Aviva Stadium.

Having already beaten their provincial rivals at Thomond Park in December, they took advantage of Connacht's loss to Ulster on Friday to move back into top spot.

Johnny Sexton was the star of the show, finishing with all 16 points, but Munster counterpart Johnny Holland also impressed in only his third Pro12 start.

Sexton's first-half try helped Leinster into a 10-6 lead at the break, but Holland responded in kind early in the second half.

However two more Sexton penalties gave the home side a narrow lead heading into the final ten minutes.

When they lost Cian Healy to a sin-binning in the final minutes, it gave Munster a great opportunity to avoid defeat, but some ferocious defence from Leinster, and questionable decision-making saw the home side to victory.

It was Munster who were the more dangerous side early on, and Simon Zebo looked set to add to his all-time Munster try-scoring record in the 12th minute when he ran a great line in the Leinster 22. He couldn't hold on though and the chance went begging.

Still, Leinster were penalised immediately after and Holland slotted the resulting penalty to make it 3-0 to the visitors.

The home side had more of the possession but were struggling to create many chances, however they did draw level just before the half-hour through the boot of Sexton.

That was cancelled out almost immediately by Holland, but Munster then lost Robin Copeland to the sin-bin when he was pinged for pulling down a maul.

Leinster took full advantage, with Sexton the beneficiary. After Munster had just about stopped a Leinster maul, the ball was spread to Sexton, who got around Francis Saili and survived a collision with the post to touch down. He added the extras to make it 10-6 at the break.

Still, Munster were very much in it, and anything Sexton could manage, his young counterpart could match, with Holland finishing off a long period of possession for the visitors by burrowing over.

He added the conversion from the touchline to make it a 13-10 but Leinster were soon on level terms when Saili kicked the ball away from an offside position after a Garry Ringrose break.

Sexton slotted that kick, and had his team back in front when Rhys Ruddock earned a penalty from a breakdown just after the hour.

One fine move from the Leinster backs looked like it might lead to a try to ease nerves, but Isa Nacewa just ran out of space and his kick through was collected by Luke McGrath, but only as he was shoved into touch.

And with four minutes to go Leinster lost Healy to a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on opposite number Dave Kilcoyne, giving Munster a final chance to sneak it.

A mammoth rolling maul earned another penalty to get them in position, and they threw everything at their opponents.

But after earning another penalty, Dave O'Callaghan took it quickly, and a phase later they had knocked it on, giving Leinster the scrum they needed to seal the win.

The scorers:

For Leinster:

Try:  Sexton

Con: Sexton

Pens: Sexton 3

For Munster:

Try: Holland

Con: Holland

Pens: Holland 2

Yellow cards: Robin Copeland (Munster, 35), Cian Healy (Leinster, 76)

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Isa Nacewa (captain) 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Ben Te'o, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Mike Ross, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden.

Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Francis Saili, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Johnny Holland, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander (captain), 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Dave O'Callaghan, 5 Billy Holland, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 James Cronin.

Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Robin Copeland, 20 Jack O'Donoghue, 21 Tomás O'Leary, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Darren Sweetnam.

Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)

Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Mark Patton (Ireland)

TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Source: @PRO12rugby