Pivac praises his squad's performances in recent weeks

A mammoth challenge between sixth and seventh in the Guinness PRO12 at the Sportsground, Galway, on Saturday evening saw Connacht come away with a four point victory after turning a five point half time deficit around in their favour.

Scarlets scored a penalty and try in the second and third minute respectively but failed to add additional points to the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

With a missed late missed penalty and drop goal by Connacht late in the game the Scarlets did come away from Galway with an all important losing bonus point – which could prove vital come the end of the season.

Scarlets Head Coach Wayne Pivac said: “The conditions early on were in our favour but we didn’t capitalise on our opportunities.

“A clear try-scoring opportunity and a missed conversion would have taken us to 15-0 and could have potentially turned the game into a different outcome.

“We were a little loose after going 8-0 up and played too much rugby in our own half. The rain came in for the second half with the conditions making it very difficult to string too many phases together.”

The Scarlets were without their nine-strong international contingent as well as a handful of injured players including captain Ken Owens and scrum half Gareth Davies.

Pivac went on to say: “We did see some good individual performances against Connacht but we didn’t put a performance together as a team.

“The group have done really well over the last few weeks whilst we’ve been without the Welsh and injured players. The worst case scenario for us was to come away from Galway with a losing bonus point and we have to be pleased that we held on to the all important point.”

Scarlets remain in seventh place in the competition table four points adrift from Connacht in sixth and only five points adrift of Leinster in fourth.

Guinness PRO12 action returns to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday 3rd January and the West Wales derby against Ospreys.