Priestland’s Boot Drowns Glasgow Threat

by Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

The beach party was a bit of a wash-out, and the rugby threatened to turn into a bit of a damp squid after some sloppy defence allowed the visitors to score two tries, but the newly-confident Scarlets dug deep and defended well to overcome the team that last week overpowered the Ospreys.

Fortunately, in a night where number 10, Rhys Priestland, who was playing his 50^th Magners League match, scored all 18 of the Scarlets’ points, the same cannot be said of his counterpart.

The Scarlets had the majority of the possession during the first half and lifted the spirits of the rain-soaked crowd with good attacking moves, despite playing with a ball that resembled a bar of soap!

Conditions were awful during the first half, with the torrential rain resembling a power shower from the sky combining with a swirling wind. This left supporters wishing Parc y Scarlets had a retractable roof, like the Millennium Stadium!

Priestland kicked two penalties inside the first half an hour and added another two before half time, following the sin binning of John Barclay for kicking the ball out of the ruck. This gave the home team a strong 12-0 half time lead.

Glasgow brought on a different kicker for the second half, but it was the Scarlets number 10 that continued where he had left off in the first half, to increase the Scarlets’ lead to 15 unanswered points.

Lou Reed’s sin binning for repeat offending proved costly for the men in red, even though it was the Scarlets who played the majority of the rugby. Sloppy defending resulted in the Scottish team taking full advantage of the extra man, scoring two tries from Weir and Van der Merwe.

Suddenly, a strong lead was reduced to just a point and it became heart-in-mouth time for the supporters once again. We were rewarded with a little light relief, however, when the big screen showed the winners of the beach party competition, clad in full waterproofs, watching the match from the comfort of their deckchairs!!

With the home team supporters urging their team to score, and the shouts of ‘Scarlets, Scarlets’ ringing from the stands, the Scarlets came close to that illusive try, only to fall about a metre short. Priestland gave the Scarlets a little breathing space though and with 10 minutes to go, his 6^th successful penalty, brought the score to 18-14.

Desperate defence towards the end of the game kept the crowd on the edge of their seats but the home team managed to keep their defensive line firm forcing the Warriors to knock the ball on prior to crossing the line, to the relief of majority of the 7,000 plus crowd that had braved the elements.

This victory puts the Scarlets second in the Magners’ League, a point ahead of the Blues and 4 points behind Munster.

Next Saturday, November 6^th 2010, the Scarlets welcome Leeds Carnegie to Parc y Scarlets for the first match in the LV= Cup. Kick off is at 12.00pm, with the Wales vs Australia match being shown on the big screen after the game. This is followed by a fireworks extravaganza and a taste of the X Factor!