Scarlets midfielder Hadleigh Parkes believes his side will need to be wary of the challenge posed by Benetton Rugby as the Italians head to Parc y Scarlets this weekend on the back of a victory over fellow Welsh region Ospreys.
The homeside can also boast a victory in the last round, a bonus point victory over Edinburgh, but Parkes is acutely aware of the importance of keeping that winning momentum alive to secure a place in the Guinness PRO12’s top four.
Looking back at that bonus point victory over Edinburgh at Parc y Scarlets at the end of March Parkes said; “We created three or four scoring opportunities in the second half against Edinburgh, we probably got a little bit ahead of ourselves and thought that we’d done the job and that it would be an easy second half – it certainly wasn’t. There’s a lot to learn from that, hopefully we’ll be able to put those wrongs right this week.”
Benetton Rugby have showed in the past that they can be a force to be reckoned with putting Scarlets to the sword at the Parc and spoiling the region’s final game of the season a few years ago, something the Scarlets will be keen to halt this year.
Parkes went on to say: “I don’t think you can write Treviso off. I think both the Italian sides are probably riding a little bit of a high after the Six Nations; they put in some good performances during the tournament. Treviso beat the Ospreys a few weeks ago and Zebre beat Connacht last weekend.
“It’s good to see for the teams, and for rugby in Italy aswell. It’s going to be a tough game. It always is. If they’re in the game at the 60-minute mark you know you’re in a fight because they don’t go away. We’ve got to go into this game, put our best foot forward and get stuck in.
“We don’t want to take them lightly, they’ve proved in the past that they can come here and win, as we have got ourselves into a decent position in the table. We’ve got a tough run-in but possibly not as tough as the others. Having said that we’ve got a couple of local derbies in our sights aswell, hopefully this weekend will be a big game for us!”
Scarlets v Benetton Rugby at Parc y Scarlets, Saturday 8th April, kick-off 7.35pm
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