Scarlets cling on to win

by Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

After almost a whole month without some live Scarlets action at Parc y Scarlets, the team was finally back at home to welcome a rather South African looking Edinburgh for the 15th Round of the Rabo Direct Pro 12 League.

Buoyed by superb Welsh performance last night which saw the National team beat the French by a record score line, the Scarlets hoped that a bonus point win against their Scottish opponents would help in their quest for the play-offs at the end of the season.

Unusually, a traditional Saturday afternoon fixture failed to draw the crowds as a disappointing few welcomed the teams onto the pitch.

Edinburgh demonstrated their intentions right from the kick-off as the Scarlets found themselves camped firmly in their own 22 with Centre Nick De Luca finally crossing for the opening try in the corner within the first five minutes of play. Outside Half Carl Bezuidenhout added the conversion to give the visitors an early 7 points to 0 advantage.

The home team did venture into the Edinburgh half but found keeping possession at the break down and chasing kicks almost alien and it was Bezuidenhout who was offered the first kickable penalty attempt. He made no mistake with his efforts and with just over 12 minutes on the clock, the Scottish team had a 10 point lead.

Following an extended period defending, the Scarlets were finally offered a chance to put points on the board. With Aled Thomas successful in his penalty, the deficit was cut to just a converted try – 3 points to 10.

It took into almost the second quarter of the game for the Scarlets to start playing rugby, stringing together a varied attack, keeping possession but unfortunately finding the Edinburgh defensive wall a challenge as they attempted to cross the gain line. Despite being unable to cross the whitewash for their first try of the afternoon, the home team were rewarded for their efforts with some points as Aled Thomas secured another penalty to give a score line of 6 points to 10.

A huge scrummaging effort from the front eight finally gave the faithful something to cheer about, as did the subsequent placement kick. However, the cheers soon turned to boos as the referee Marius Mitrea of Italy decided to reverse a Scarlets penalty following a brief handbag exchange!

The Scarlets finally scored their first try of the day following a break in mid-field from Adam Warren. Great supportive play from the forwards saw them inch ever closer before spreading the ball wide among the backs, allowing Jordan Williams to cross unopposed to give the home team the lead for the first time. The added conversion from the boot of Aled Thomas opened up a 3 point lead for the home team – 13 points to 10.

This lead was very short-lived however, as seconds later Bezuidenhout added a penalty of his own to draw the score level – 13 points all.

Despite the slow start, the Scarlets became more dominant as the game went on, with Jordan Williams adding his second try just before half time. Thomas was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt on this occasion, but the Scarlets were still headed into the half time break in the lead – 18 points to 13.

Again, it was Edinburgh who started the half the stronger, with solid Scarlets defence initially holding up the ball, before Wing Tom Brown crossed for his team’s second try of the afternoon to bring the scores back to 18 points all. Full Back Jack Cuthbert took over the kicking duties from the replaced Bezuidenhout and saw his kick, which would have regained the lead for his team, sail wide.

Another sustained period of pressure from the home team eventually scored their third try of the afternoon, with Adam Warren running good angles with his Centre partner Olly Barkley before crossing the white wash. Thomas again added the conversion and the Scarlets were in the lead once more – 25 points to 18.

However, Edinburgh were certainly not making things easy for the Scarlets as they were back in the home team’s 22 right from the re-start. Cuthbert’s successful penalty narrowed the gap to 25 points to 21.

Suddenly the game became very much end to end stuff with play moving from one 22 to the other. Magical side-stepping saw Full Back and Man of the Match Jordan Williams somehow dance his way through the Edinburgh defence and into space, but unfortunately his try scoring pass could not be gathered and the illusive fifth try went begging.

Another huge scrummaging performance and subsequent penalty kick offered Aled Thomas the opportunity to further increase the Scarlets score, however, despite being right in front of the posts, the kick sailed wide and just the 4 points remained between the two sides.

With just minutes remaining on the clock, the Scottish threw everything into winning the game – displaying great hands as they moved the ball with pace and accuracy to test the Scarlets defence. Fortunately, the Scarlets were able to cling on to their narrow lead to win 25 points to 21.

Next week the Scarlets are celebrating St. David’s Day with the visit of Munster – kick of 6.30pm.