You Win Some, You Lose Some!

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

It’s been a fortnight of travelling for the Scarlets with the last two fixtures being on the road.

The first away game against a rejuvenated Dragons sidesaw the home team break a ten match losing streak against the Scarlets to record an important victory that put a huge smile on the face of the ex-Scarlets coach, the charismatic Lyn Jones.

The victory was due mainly to a poor start from the Scarlets with the Dragons benefitting from the many errors from the men in red. Despite strong starts in the previous games, the Scarlets struggled to find any consistency in their play and saw the error count grow.

Prop Phil Price gratefully accepted the offload and crossed for the first try which was converted by Jason Tovey. Scarlets’ Priestland did manage to put the visitors on the board but with another try scored by former Scarlet Daniel Evans and the boot of Tovey, Priestland’s 3 points were no match for the 17 scored by the Dragons.

The young Scarlets team did however show a considerable amount of determination and maturity as they began to chip away at the lead. Rhys Priestland cut the deficit to 11 with another successful kick and it was hopeful that the come-back had started!

Very much leading by example, captains Rob McCusker and Jon Davies played a huge part in the scoring of the Scarlets’ try – amazing defence by McCusker saved an almost certain Dragons try and saw Davies feed his centre partner Scott Williams who crossed the whitewash to the delight of the travelling supporters. Priestland added the conversion to give a far more respectable half time score of 17 points to 13.

The second half was played out as a typical Derby match, with the only scores coming from the boot. The Scarlets dug deep and continued playing right until the end, with the final minutes of the game being spent in the scrum! Despite the obvious advantage, the visitors were unable to control the ball for that final push, though it can be argued that with the Dragons continually collapsing the scrum, there was call for referee Nigel Owens to award the Scarlets a penalty try which would have seen the scores ties.

Unfortunately, the Scarlets had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point as the game ended with the Dragons winning 23 points to 16.

A week later, the Scarlets were on the road once again as they travelled to Scotland to play Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

Notoriously strong at home, the recent fixtures between the two sides have been close, with just a point separating them!

Fortunately, this was not the case this time and the Scarlets from the whistle looked very much the stronger of the two teams as they bounced back from the shock of the defeat the previous week.

It could have well have been a different story though as the Scarlets’ discipline suffered as the men in red spent a whole half an hour with just 14 men on the pitch.

Edinburgh’s Outside Half Harry Leonard and the Scarlets’ Rhys Priestland exchanged early penalties before the Scarlets scored the first of their tries, and what a try it was with Priestland’s long pass seeing the pacey Nick Reynolds demonstrate his speed as he almost flew over the whitewash!

Edinburgh responded with another Leonard penalty but it was the Scarlets who were able to hold on to the lead at half time – 10 points to 6.

The second half continued in a similar fashion to the first – another Scarlets yellow card and another successful kick from Leonard to bring the home team within a point.

Despite being a man down, the Scarlets did what they do best – exciting rugby! Rhys Priestland released the exciting Jordan Williams on the wing and he certainly weaved his magic with a scintillating run that saw him leave defenders for dust as he crossed for the Scarlets’ second try.

Captain Jon Davies scored the Scarlets third and final try in the last minutes of the game. Again, Priestland was instrumental in the scoring of the try with Edinburgh’s Lee Jones fumbling his gathering of Priestland’s kick which saw Davies touch down to secure a Scarlets win of 22 points to 9.

The Scarlets hope to continue their Scottish winning ways this weekend as they welcome Glasgow to Parc y Scarlets for the final match in the Rabo Direct before the start of the Heineken Cup campaign the following week.