SCARLETS SECURE FULL POINTS IN DRAGONS DERBY ENCOUNTER

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Following an important 22-6 victory away against Treviso last weekend, the Scarlets faced the Dragons in their first Welsh Derby of the season. Despite a poor start to the season, the Scarlets have recorded two important wins and a third against the Dragons will see them start their European Campaign against Sale Sharks next week in a confident position.

Featuring two former Scarlets in their line-up, namely Adam Warren and Nic Cudd, the Dragons find themselves a place lower than the 8th placed home team in the Pro12 in 9th position.

The Scarlets had a dream start with Wing Steffan Evans gratefully receiving the try-scoring pass to cross in the corner. Rhys Patchell added the touch-line conversion to give the men in red an early 7 point to 0 lead.

The Dragons were offered the opportunity to cut the deficit minutes later but chose to kick for the corner, rather than opting for the easy 3 pointer, however, losing the ball forward in the breakdown saw the Scarlets back in possession at the scrum.

The Dragons were able to draw level though with Hal Amos squeezing over in the corner. Outside Half Nick Macleod continued the kicking success with his own well-struck conversion to draw the game level at 7 points each.

Despite the strong start from the Scarlets, together with glimpses of what the backs are capable of with ball in hand, the Dragons took the lead with another well-struck penalty from Macleod to give the visitors a 7 points to 10 advantage.

They further increased their lead with former-Scarlet Adam Warren kicking the loose ball ahead, and gathering to cross in corner. On this occasion, Macleod saw his kick sail just to the left of the posts, but with almost half an hour played, the Dragons increased their lead to 7 points to 15 with the Scarlets in need of a quick score.

Warren replicated the feat a matter of minutes later as he touched down in almost an identical position to his first. With Macleod off the pitch, replacement Angus O’Brien took over the kicking duties, but saw his kick sail wide. The Dragons lead was now increased to 7 points to 20. However, the Scarlets hit back immediately with a break from James Davies in a move that finished with Liam ‘Sanjay’ Williams crossing for a much needed Scarlets try. Patchell added the conversion to narrow the Dragons’ lead to 14 points to 20.

The urgency in the Scarlets’ play was evident, as only the whistle of referee Ben Whitehouse thwarted DTH’s plan to score another try in quick succession.

As the half reached a climax, O’Brien was offered the opportunity to further extend the Dragons league and put them in a commanding position for the start of the second half. It was, however, poetic justice that his kick sailed just to the right of the posts.

The second half showed glimpses of what both sides could do, with good individual play from both sets of players, however, silly mistakes let them down and play for the most part was played between the both sets of 22’s.

When the Scarlets eventually broke into the Dragons’ 22, they made very hard work of not scoring a try with way-ward passes almost resulting in an interception from the Dragons.

An easy penalty attempt from right in front of the posts for Rhys Patchell brought the Scarlets back to within 3 points of the Dragons – 17 points to 20.

Quick thinking from replacement Scrum Half Jonathan Evans finally saw the Scarlets back in the lead as he broke through following the line-out to cross un-opposed as he left the opposition napping. Patchell added the conversion to give the home team a 24 points to 20 advantage as suddenly, Whitehouse’s left arm began working!!!

A superb break from Centre Scott Williams gave Wing Steffan Evans the space to cross for his brace of tries, importantly, earning the Scarlets a try bonus point for the evening. Patchell continued his 100% kicking record with his fourth successful conversion to edge the Scarlets further in the lead – 31 points to 20.

As the Scarlets began to believe the game was in the bag, sloppy defending saw replacement Seral Pretorius cross unopposed, to the disgust of Scarlets’ Defence Coach Byron Hayward! O’Brien added the conversion to put the Dragons back in losing bonus point territory – 31 points to 27.

As full time approached, it was the Dragons who were in possession, with a lot of work to do to play their way into the Scarlets’ 22, but ill-discipline allowed the Scarlets to kick their way deep into the Dragons half as they played out the remaining seconds of the game.

Fortunately, they were able to hold on for the victory and collect the full 5 points with a final score of 31 points to 27.

Next week the Scarlets begin their European Campaign with a home game against Sale Sharks on Saturday evening. Kickoff is at 7.45pm.