Scarlets sweat for 34-30 win over Kings

PRO14 champions Scarlets were made to sweat before they were able to pip a spirited Southern Kings side 34-30 in a thrill-a-minute showdown at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium yesterday.

The win piled on more misery for the gutsy Kings who remain winless and rooted to the bottom of the log after nine outings in the European competition.

Scarlets, who finished the game strongly, scored four sparkling tries to secure a hard-fought win in the first game of their two-match South African safari.

Despite missing several players on international duty, Scarlets had just enough gas in the tank to subdue the home team who fought for the elusive win right up until the final whistle.

The first Sunday rugby match at the NMB Stadium attracted a 3 619 crowd to watch the champions who have now won eight of their opening nine matches.

After leading 16-10 at the break, the Kings made a perfect start to the second half when centre Martin du Toit danced his way through the Scarlets defence to score his team’s third try.

This sparked a fight back by the Welshmen who crossed over for their third try when Ioan Nicholas went over in the corner after 51 minutes

Scarlets flyhalf Daniel Jones slotted a difficult conversion, which left the Kings hanging onto a narrow 23-17 lead.

Using their forward power, Scarlets prop Werner Kruger powered his over the line as the Welsh fought their way back in the game.

The trusty boot of Jones succeeded with the conversion to leave Scarlets 2423 ahead after 57 minutes.

In what was a ding-dong affair, the Kings regained the lead in the 65th minute when Harlon Klaasen was on hand to dot down after a kick from centre Berton Klaasen.

Kurt Coleman nailed the conversion to put the Kings 30-27 ahead.

Scarlets, however refused to lie down and were back in the lead when Jones scored his team’s fourth try of the afternoon.

The match started at a frantic pace with both teams keen to spread the ball wide as they sought to gain an early advantage.

Showing plenty of enterprise with ball in hand, Scarlets were first to score when loose forward Tadhg Beirbe dived over to put his side 5-0 ahead after five minutes.

The Kings struck back four minutes later when wing Michael Makase latched onto a pinpoint cross kick from flyhalf Oliver Zono to score his team’s first try. Zono missed the conversion to leave Scarlets ahead 7-5.

Six minutes later the Kings carved open the Scarlets defence again when speedy Yaw Penxe latched onto a kick ahead to dot down. That left the Kings with a 10-7 lead after 16 minutes after a frantic start to the clash.

Zono then slotted a penalty to stretch the Kings lead to 13-10 after 25 minutes as the Kings fought back after conceding an early try.

Scarlets then hit back with a penalty of their own via Daniel Jones to reduce the deficit to 13-10 in what was turning out to be a tight contest.

On the stroke of halftime the coolheaded Zono struck his second penalty to give the Kings some reward for their territorial advantage.