10 from 10 keeps Scarlets’ European Dreams Alive

Despite a flight cancellation and an enforced change of airport after chartering a flight from Cardiff, the Scarlets finally arrived in Northern Italy for the away leg of their Champions’ Cup game against Benetton, determined to put in a performance after their ‘disappointing’ bonus victory last weekend.
Early pressure from the Scarlets saw play deep in the Benetton 22 with Leigh Halfpenny’s first penalty attempt giving the visitors a 0 point to 3 lead after just over 8 minutes played.
Try number one soon followed as Paul Asquith gathered Leigh Halfpenny’s kick through before passing to Johnny McNicholl who dived over in the corner. Halfpenny added the tricky conversion to open up a 10-point advantage – 0 points to 10.
Federico Zani was shown the yellow card for collapsing the maul offering the Scarlets a man advantage once more in the Benetton 22, however, losing the line-out was not part of the plan!
Paul Asquith, who saved the day for the Scarlets last week was on hand to support McNicholl and cross under the posts for the visitor’s second try. Halfpenny maintained his 100% kicking record to further extend the Scarlets’ lead to 0 points to 17.
A rare attacking phase from the home team put some pressure on the Scarlets’ defence but superb work at the breakdown by turn-over King, James Davies saw play back the Italians’ half.
Scrum Half, Gareth Davies added to his two-try haul from last week by finding gaping holes in the Benetton defence as he side-stepped through the defenders to score under the posts. Halfpenny’s conversion saw the first half close with the Scarlets dominant – 0 points to 24.
Benetton believed the second half had started with a bang as they celebrated scoring their first try despite the ball clearly being grounded by Gareth Davies first. Thankfully, the TMO confirmed this was the case!
Another yellow card for the home team saw Wing Angelo Esposito binned for a deliberate knock-on, though referee Roman Poite decided against exploring the possibility of a penalty try.
It took just 3 minutes of the second half for the Scarlets to secure the bonus point with Gareth Davies scoring a remarkable fourth try in two weeks as he stretched from close-range to touch the ball down. Again, Halfpenny added the extras as the Scarlets extended their lead to a commanding 0 points to 31, looking a completely different side to last week, despite only a tweak in personnel, much to the delight of the travelling supporters who were in fine voice as ‘Sosban Fach’ continued to fill the air around the Stadio Monigo.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes, the game became a little scrappy as errors began to creep into the play of both sides.
With just two minutes remaining, the ending of the game was almost a mirror image of last week with two late tries being scored by the home team. Thankfully on this occasion, they were just consolation and had no affect on the final outcome as Monty Ioane broke free of Steff Evans’ tackle to cross the whitewash. Replacement, Ian McKinley added the conversion from the touch line to at least put his side on the scoreboard – 7 points to 31.
With the game passed the 80 minutes, Ioane caught the Scarlets’defence napping as he struck again in the opposite corner, but it was very much too little, too late as the Scarlets had been in control of this fixture from the start. McKinley’s conversion attempt was wide, however. it made little difference to the final outcome as the Scarlets’ European hopes were kept alive.
Final score – Benetton 12 – Scarlets 31
Next up for the Scarlets are the beginning of the Festive Derbies with the eagerly anticipated Boxing Day fixture against the Ospreys taking place at Parc y Scarlets at 5.35pm