“We’re serious contenders for this championship”

“We’re serious contenders for this championship,” says Williams

Scarlets centre Scott Williams scored his side’s only try at Parc y Scarlets in the fifth round European Rugby Champions Cup clash and was awarded the Man of the Match trophy after dominating in midfield.

Williams ran in a 52^nd minute try under the posts at Parc y Scarlets, against European champions Saracens, to put his side back in the lead after a Chris Ashton try and Owen Farrell conversion brought the score to a level 12-all after 50 minutes.

The try followed four successful penalties from 21-year-old fly half Dan Jones and his conversion put the Scarlets 19-12 in the lead in what was a thrilling Champions Cup clash at the Parc.

Farrell and Jones exchanged penalties but heartache followed as Ashton crossed for an 80^th minute try with Farrell converting to bring the final score to a 22-all draw.

Commenting on the result after the game Williams said; “It’s a tough one to take, I was gutted at the final whistle.

“It’s a bit of a weird feeling at the moment. It feels like we lost eventhough we drew but we may aswell have lost. I think boys will learn from this today and we need to make sure we play the full 80 next week.

“I thought we’d done enough to win, I thought we felt comfortable in defence, the forwards were outstanding today in the scrum. Just hopefully next time it can go our way.

“I thought we dominated them physically, we didn’t make them look like the best team in Europe at times but they probably had that little bit more experience at the end that won them the game.”

An unbeaten home run in the campaign will give the Scarlets confidence as they head into the final pool game against Sale Sharks next weekend looking for a third victory in the Champions Cup.

Williams went on to say; “Hopefully we’ve shown in the last couple of games now that we are a serious side, we’re serious contenders for this championship.
“We’ve shown how far we have come over the last couple of seasons, we’ve got a good squad, good boys to bring off the bench, there are young boys in the squad who are unfortunate to be coming off the bench and not starting games.

“Everyone wrote us off at the start. I had the feeling at times in games that people were thinking this team’s not suppose to win. Hopefully now next season that mentality will change.”

Next home games at Parc y Scarlets;

Friday 27^th January v Saracens, Anglo-Welsh Cup, kick-off 7.05pm
Friday 17^th February v Zebre, GUINNESS PRO12, kick-off 7.35pm