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Leinster coach Matt O’Connor called for neutral match officials after watching the record four-time Pro12 champions succumb to the Scarlets in Llanelli.

He believes the tournament must be revamped – Irish referee George Clancy was the man with the whistle while his assistants Gwyn Morris and Chris Williams and also the television match official were Welsh– for its credibility with more at stake than ever for Europe's showpiece Rugby Champions Cup having become more difficult following an overhaul of the qualification procedure.

O’Connor’s comments came less than 24 hours after Connacht coach Pat Lam launched a scathing post-match attack on Welsh assistant referee Leighton Hodges following the Irish province’s last gasp defeat against Cardiff Blues on Friday night.

Clancy sought guidance from the TMO as Leinster chased a losing bonus point with two minutes remaining – and the TV official ruled out South African international Zane Kirchner’s effort after Scarlets skipper Ken Owens claimed he had been obstructed.

That led Australian O’Connor to say: “I think it was a Welsh TMO – I don’t know."

Pictures: Scarlets down Leinster

How a famous day for the Scarlets and Ospreys unfolded

Choosing his words carefully, he urged Pro12 organisers to bring in neutral “teams” of match officials, adding: “It’s pretty important ... I would say so.

“It has to be looked at how they're put together across the board because with meritocracy (European qualification), everything is important.”

The defeat means Leinster slipped a place to fifth in the Guinness Pro12 table with the Ospreys, who beat previous leaders Munster 26-12 in Swansea, climbing above them and into the top four title play-off positions with five rounds of fixtures in the regular season remaining.

Back-to-back champions Leinster needed victory as they chase an unprecedented third consecutive title but O’Connor didn’t have any complaints about the 23-13 loss at Parc y Scarlets.

“I thought the whole Scarlets played well," he said.

"They looked after the ball a bit better, took their chances and were probably deserving of the result.”

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Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac acknowledged it was one of his team’s better performances since he succeeded Simon Easterby, who was appointed Ireland forwards coach, early in the campaign.

“Leinster gave us a hiding in round two and we wanted to make sure we put in a good and solid performance because they are a quality side,” said the New Zealander.

“The pleasing part for us is we went behind and came back. We were a lot more clinical than we were against Munster a fortnight ago.”

Connacht's loss at the Blues means the seventh-placed Scarlets closed the gap on them to three points in the race to finish in the top six to gain automatic entry to next season’s Champions Cup. Edinburgh, who won in Treviso, are only a point behind the Scarlets.

“We were hoping the Blues could do us a favour – it was quite painful watching that game!” said Pivac.

“We knew we had to win our match with Leinster. If Connacht had won and we had lost it would have been a long way back but how it’s panned out has closed the gap right up.

“If you look at our run-in and Connacht’s, I think you would prefer to have our’s. It was always going to be a big weekend and we had signalled out this game. We are pretty pleased.”