Nightmare start turns in bonus point win

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

It was a damp, foggy and miserable Parc y Scarlets that welcomed the men from Italy (including the referee) for this mid table RaboDirect Pro12 match, unusually played on a Thursday evening.

It was a game the Scarlets needed to win in order to claw their way back into the play off places, but they couldn’t have asked for a worse start with Treviso’s Nitoglia crossing for the first try of the evening after a mere 90 seconds of play. A successful conversion saw the visitors take an early 7 points to 0 lead.

The Scarlets attacked from the re-start but were always on the back foot due to a strong Treviso defence.

Despite the weather conditions, the Scarlets attempted to play their usual brand of open rugby with disastrous consequences as Aled Thomas saw his kick charged down and Bernabo crossing for the Italian team’s second try in a matter of minutes.

With just over six minutes on the clock, the Scarlets suddenly saw themselves 14 point to nil down.

Always a physical side, the Treviso forwards continued their attack with a drive upfield, making it look precarious for the home team.

The home crowd finally had something to cheer about with the Scarlets being awarded their first kickable penalty following a strong scrum. However, it seemed that the fog had affected Aled Thomas’ vision and he was aiming for the corner flag, rather than between the posts!

It took almost 20 minutes for the Scarlets to string together enough passes to make it look like they were actually threatening to score. Gareth Davies took the ball quickly, sprinting upfield, only for the ball to go forward in the Treviso 22.

The home team continued to attempt to work the ball upfield, but the Treviso defence was immense, despite the fact that they were missing 13 players on International duty themselves.

It took almost half an hour before Josh Turnbull finally saw the half gap and powered his way over the white wash to score not only the first try of the game for the men in Scarlet, but the first points!

Aled Thomas was successful with the conversion to bring the Scarlets back within 7 points of the Italians…..7 point to 14.

It was Gareth Davies who set the game alight once more around 5 minutes later, storming upfield, finding the gaps and with good follow up from Full Back Liam Williams, forcing the Italians to carry the ball over their own line, the Scarlets were offered the chance to close the gap once more with half time looming.

It was the popular Fijian captain Deacon Manu that did just that, driving his way over the line for the Scarlets’ second try.

Aled Thomas once more added the conversion and following the nightmare start, it was suddenly 14 all!

The half wasn’t quite over though as Treviso’s Outside Half Willem De Waal kicked a penalty to see his side go in for half time with a slim lead, 17 points to 14.

The Scarlets started the stronger in the second half and it was only a wayward pass from Andy Fenby that denied the home team an early try.

The Scarlets were able to keep possession and looked far more threatening. Aled Thomas again missed a penalty that would have equalised the score.

Eventually though, Liam Williams, running good angles, crossed for a super try and for the first time the Scarlets took the lead.

Aled Thomas was successful with his third conversion, and suddenly thoughts were of bonus points with the Scarlets in the lead 21 points to 17 – something that seemed highly unlikely at the start of the match.

With added confidence the Scarlets began moving the ball forward, despite the continuing strong Italian defence.

The Scarlets were awarded another penalty with 20 minutes left on the clock, with Aled Thomas almost immediately pointing to the posts.

He was finally successful with his first penalty of the night with a confident kick, to stretch the Scarlets lead, 24 points to 17.

The arrival of Lou Reed on the pitch, along with the earlier arrival of Aaron Shingler saw the Scarlets’ newest Internationals coming home after being released by the National set up. Reed replaced Dominic Day who had earlier announced that he was leaving the region at the end of the season to join English Premiership team, Bath.

The Scarlets have a reputation for bringing players through the ranks, but surely something has to be done to halt the vicious circle of these players leaving for pastures new once larger cheque books are waved in their faces. The Scarlets are a region in their own right, not a feeder club for other regions and teams in France and England.

The West Walian’s hopes for a bonus point were further encouraged with Treviso being reduced to 14 men.

However, it was the Italians that seemed to finish the stronger, threatening the Scarlets line which resulted in Aaron Shingler also being sin binned for tackling a player without the ball.

Interestingly, with a losing bonus point already secured, Treviso took the decision to kick the penalty rather than keep the ball in hand and attempt to draw the game by scoring a try.

De Waal was once again successful with his kick to bring the scoreline to 24 points to 20.

The restart offered the Scarlets the chance to once again attack and within seconds had secured a penalty. Aled Thomas, despite his shaky start made no mistake in restoring the Scarlets lead to 7 points once again, 27 points to 20.

Good defence from the Scarlets saw them driving their man over the line to gain a line out in a good attacking position. Returning replacement Scrum Half Liam Davies’ dummy pass set up the gap which saw him scoring the Scarlets’ bonus point try.

Aled Thomas was once again successful with the conversion to bring the score to 34 points to 20.

Points-wise, the Scarlets out-scored Treviso 20 points to 3 in the second half, demonstrating the difference in the standard of their play from the first half. And it was that second half performance that was enough to secure them a desperately needed bonus point win. The extra point was enough to see the men in Scarlet climb from seventh in the table to fifth!