Singha 7s a showcase for Scarlets’ development pathway

The Scarlets secured a convincing and exciting win over Newcastle Falcons in the Singha 7s quarter finals, beating the Aviva Premiership side 26-31, to take the West Wales region through to the Cup semi final against Dai Young’s Wasps.

Newcastle Falcons had topped their group with three convincing wins over Leicester Tigers, Worcester Warriors and Sale Sharks.

Despite a gallant performance the Scarlets were stung by Wasps’ pace in the semi final at Twickenham Stoop with the Coventry based side eventually losing out to Newport Gwent Dragons in the final.

The Scarlets headed to the final of the Premiership Rugby Singha 7s having made six changes to the squad that had secured qualification at the Welsh leg of the competition at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park a fortnight ago.

Speaking after the semi final defeat to Wasps, Scarlets 7s coach Dai Flanagan said; “I’m very happy with the day overall. We only had a walk through last night having finalised the squad on Wednesday evening due to players’ work commitments.

“We have to be realistic; we came here with a semi professional squad, boys who work 12 hour shifts and one guy who’s come here off the back of a night shift, they fronted up and put in strong performances against a full time Wasps outfit, and a full time Falcons outfit.”

Scarlets 7s’ semi final finish, with a squad that included one full time senior professional, a Scarlets Academy player, nine semi professional players and a Wales 7s player, is further proof that the region’s development pathway is giving local talent opportunities to represent the region and to do so on a national stage.

Flanagan went on to say; “As a region we can be proud that these players play in our region for our semi professional clubs. They put their hands up and we’re very thankful for the effort they gave.

“It also shows the good work that the semi pro clubs are doing in the region in developing players; a big thank you to them for their support.

“The next step for this group is the British & Irish Cup and the 7s has been a great building block for that. The boys have worked hard for each other and have had an opportunity to get to know each other before we head into what is a tough group against Bedford, Bristol and Ulster.”