Battling for each other key to Scarlets’ early success

For the second consecutive week Scarlets put in a huge defensive effort to secure an opening home victory at Parc y Scarlets making it two wins from two in the 2015-16 Guinness PRO12 campaign.

The region’s only try of the afternoon came early on in the second from winger Hadleigh Parkes who raced over the whitewash unopposed after a decent build up from outside half Dan Jones and centre Gareth Owen.

It was the defensive display that was once again the talking point with Scarlets showing composure and maturity against Ulster’s attacking play. Despite allowing the opposition two cross for two tries of their own and being a man down in defence for thirty minutes of the game Scarlets held strong to secure the second victory of the competition.

Twelve months earlier Scarlets had allowed Ulster to claw back a draw in the opening round of the PRO12 after securing a 24-15 lead at half time. Head Coach Wayne Pivac believes his side had a much better control of the game twelve months on, he said: “At 19-12 with a few minutes to go and yellow cards going on, it was very similar but luckily enough for us we were able to control the last few minutes of the game and be at the right end of the field. The penalty at the end was important to deny them a bonus point.

“We started well as we did last week. First 20 minutes we had the bulk of the possession and territory; that was good. They pulled it back in second 20 of the first half and then penalties started to come in last 10 minutes. We pulled the foot of the throttle a little bit but luckily they missed a shot at goal and we were 9-0 up.

“We started well in the second half and had to count to clock the count down with seven to go before we were able to get to 15 on 15. We were able to stem the tide at the right times I guess and get away with that win.”

Despite three yellow cards, for the second consecutive week, Scarlets remained solid in defence against what was a very competitive Ulster side; he went on to say; “When we’re down numbers we’ve managed to scrap for each other and fight hard and really dig in. This time last year we were giving those leads away, that’s pleasing but we’d certainly like to be in a position now where by round three we tidy that discipline issue up and don’t end up with less players on the field than the opposition.”