SCARLETS UNBEATEN HOME RECORD GONE!

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies
Following a weekend of mixed emotions last week with the Scarlets losing their Pro 12 match away to Leinster and Wales both celebrating an immense second half performance against Italy, and the disappointment of the third place spot in the Championship Table, it was back to the fortress Parc y Scarlet for the fixture against Edinburgh.

It was a sad day in Parc y Scarlets following the shock news of the shock passing of Stadium Announcer Munro Walters. A former teacher, who lived for many years in the Midlands, Munro spent his later years in Pwll along with his wife, Maxine. Following in his father, Glyn’s footsteps, Munro has been the Stadium Announcer for over 20 years at both Stradey Park and Parc y Scarlets and recently at Stebo all. His warmth and tones will be sadly missed at pitch side on match days.

Fittingly, the match began with a tribute to Munro along with a minutes silence.  It took a matter of minutes for the Scarlets to open the scoring with a penalty from Steven Shingler to give the home team a 3 point to 0 advantage.

However, it was Edinburgh that scored the first try of the afternoon despite a series of possibly forward passes in the move before Centre Phil Burleigh crossed in the corner. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne added the extras to give the visitors a lead of 3 points to 8.

Another penalty from Shingler cut the deficit almost immediately to just a point – 6 points to 7, but with the penalty count against the visitors growing, the Outside Half was soon kicking to re-take the lead for the Scarlets and Mr Reliable did just that as his kick squeezed through to give the home team a 9 point to 7 advantage.

Shingler proved he isn’t just good at kicking as his break took the Scarlets into the Edinburgh 22, putting together phases of great passing rugby before being awarded another penalty, right in front of the posts that Shingler couldn’t miss to give his team a 12 points to 7 advantage.

Penalty attempt number 5 occurred seconds later, accompanied by the sin binning of Edinburgh Outside Half Greig Tonks. Despite the tricky angle, Shingler again saw his kick sail through the posts to open up an 8 point advantage – 15 points to 7.

With play deep in the 22, the home side demonstrated their defensive qualities as rather than forfeit the try; Edinburgh had to settle for a penalty to bring the scores to 15 points to 10. Unfortunately for the Scarlets, Number 8 John Barclay was sent to the bin leaving both teams down to 14 men for a time.

The pressure from the Edinburgh forwards proved too much for the Scarlets as their defence was put under severe pressure and as half time approached, Number 8 Dave Denton squeezed over to equalise the score with the conversion to come. A lucky bounce off the upright saw Edinburgh run in for half time in the lead – 15 points to 17.

The Scarlets started the second half strongly; however a series of refereeing decisions soon resulted in play back on half way as the Scarlets scrummaging techniques seemed to differ greatly to the expectations of John Lacey the referee.

The crowd finally had something to cheer about as the Scarlets played their way deep into the Edinburgh 22, with just a spilled pass from Hadleigh Parkes denying them their first try of the afternoon. Unfortunately, despite all the hard work, the men in Scarlet were soon back defending their line.

Unfortunately the Scarlets ended the game with 14 men following replacement Scrum Half Gareth Davies being given a red card for a head butt. The subsequent penalty further extended the Edinburgh lead to 15 points to 20.

In a far from entertaining second half Edinburgh continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over as they snatched the Scarlets’ losing bonus point with another penalty from Hidalgo-Clyne to increase their lead to 15 points to 23, thus putting the unbeaten home run under threat.

Worryingly for the home team, a nasty injury to Michael Tagicakibau saw a lengthy delay and more worryingly the use of a stretcher and oxygen to remove the player from the field of play.

With yet more refereeing decisions going against the Scarlets, Edinburgh were offered the chance to seal the game in the dying minutes as the penalty count further increased against the men in red. Another successful penalty saw not only the game end with Edinburgh winning 15 points to 26, but the Scarlets home winning streak that has seen them unbeaten in the League.