‘Still work to be done,’ says Pivac

Scarlets’ victory over Treviso in Italy on Saturday afternoon saw the West Wales region head to the top of the Guinness PRO12 season as the competition takes a break for a fortnight making way for the return of the European Rugby Champions Cup.

A late kick by replacement Steven Shingler saw Scarlets go two points clear of the Italians and managed to hold on to the victory in what were tense closing minutes at the Stadio Monigo.

Despite the victory Pivac believes his side still has some work to do ahead of the festive derbies on the horizon to ensure they retain their place in the top four come the end of the season.

Fellow Welsh region Cardiff Blues secured a victory over Connacht, who had topped the table going into round nine, on Friday evening giving the Scarlets an opportunity to leapfrog the Irish province in the table. Speaking after the game he said: “We had an opportunity with what happened last night to go top of the table.

“Hopefully that was a bit of motivation for the boys. We had opportunities early on to put the game away and put a lot of pressure on Treviso but it wasn’t meant to be.

“The important thing is that we’re hanging in there in games. We’re certainly not happy with our overall performance but to get the win was vital. It’s not always pretty but certainly getting the job done and that’s all we can ask for; they’re fighting for each other.

“Today was a really important one to get over the line, we’re just grateful for those four points.”

Scarlets will take on Ospreys in the next instalment of the PRO12 at Parc y Scarlets, on Boxing Day.

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