Scarlets’ second half comeback a good team effort, says Pivac

It was the homeside who captialised on their opportunities in the first half of Friday evening’s Welsh derby clash with Newport Gwent Dragons comfortably in the lead, 13-5, at half time at Rodney Parade.

A 40 minute try for centre Gareth Owen got Scarlets on the scoreboard before the break but it spilled possession and errors by the visitors had allowed the Dragons to push ahead.

As the second half got underway it was the Dragons who once again got first points on the board through a Jack Dixon try but improved discipline and composure from the Scarlets in the last half hour so the West Walians score a further three tries and secure a 20-29 victory.

Speaking after the game Head Coach Wayne Pivac said; “We turned over possession and gifted them a lot of points in the first half. They fed off some of our errors, scored tries and punished us for our mistakes.

“In the second half once we were 20-5 down we stuck in there, the guys who came on all made an impact. We tightened our game up, got a lot quicker ball at the breakdown; we were too loose in first half. We managed to come away with what was in the end a good result for us.

“It wasn’t as if one person had a bad performance it was a good team effort in the first half to get us behind but it was equally a good team effort to get us back into the game and get us back in front – that was important for us going away to Glasgow in the first game. I was really pleased with that last half hour.”

Despite scoring four tries, to add to the six that were scored away from home last weekend against Jersey, Pivac insists that his side still has plenty to work on ahead of the Guinness PRO12 opener against Glasgow on 5^th September.

“Let’s not get carried away with the tries that we scored, lets go away and analyse that first half in particular, the turnovers and errors that we made we’ve got to get them out of our game because top four sides will punish us and they won’t let us back into the game in the way we were allowed to tonight.

“All in all though more positives than negatives came out of that second half in particular, it is very early in the season. There are a lot of new players in there; we’re still working on a style of play and we’re pleased with result I would say.”

Scarlets take on Bedford Blues, at Llandovery’s Church Bank, on Saturday 29^thAugust, kick-off 2.30pm in the final preparation for the league opener.