Improvements needed for Munster clash, says Pivac

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Scarlets secured a 25-14 victory over Leinster on Friday evening in the first of three consecutive games at Parc y Scarlets in the Guinness PRO12.

The victory was a fourth in the campaign for the Scarlets from the opening four rounds but head coach Wayne Pivac believes there is plenty still to come from the side.

Speaking after the game the New Zealander said: “We are pleased with aspects of our performance, but the feeling in the dressing room is like we have lost. We are disappointed we didn’t get the bonus point.

“At the start of the season, if you had said we would be four wins from four we would be very happy, but we still haven’t put together an 80-minute performance.

“The boys are aware of that and that is why there are not too many celebrations going on in the dressing room. We will go away and try and improve for Munster.”

Despite scoring three tries, one for James Davies and a brace for Canadian Rugby World Cup star DTH van der Merwe on his debut, the Scarlets missed out on the try bonus point.

Pivac went on to say: “In the first half we blew a few opportunities, the turnover rate was 40 percent of our ball, six handling errors and six turnovers in the contact.

“We spoke about that at half-time. I thought we started the second half well, we dominated possession and territory, managed to cross the line and pretty much secure the win. Then it was about trying to get the bonus point.

“You have got to give some credit to the defence shown by Leinster, they have lost a lot of players and the players that showed up really got stuck in and put us under some pressure.

“We just needed one or two of those passes to stick and it may have been a different ball game, but it was satisfying to get another four points.”

Scarlets return to the Parc next Friday to take on Munster before welcoming Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday 30th October for the first Welsh derby of the season.

Pivac continued: “We have got to make the most of our next two home games, next week against Munster is going to be a humdinger, it is going to be a big challenge,”

“We have plenty to work on. We can do a lot better with ball into contact, the line-out was under pressure and we can be more aggressive in defence and Byron has spoken about that in the changing room.

“Our scrum was good again and there were a lot of pleasing aspects, but the boys know we have work to do.”

Tickets for the clashes against Munster and Dragons are on sale now. Call the ticket office on 0871 871 8088 or buy online at tickets.scarlets.co.uk


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