Scarlets’ unbeaten run ended at Murrayfield

PRO14: Van der Merwe runs in three as Edinburgh romp home

Edinburgh inflicted a first defeat of the season on Scarlets with an impressive performance that saw the bonus-point victory all but sewn up by half-time.

Duhan Van der Merwe scored a hattrick of tries, Mike Willemse touched down twice with Mark Bennett and debutant Eroni Sau also crossing in a 46-7 mauling at Murrayfield.

The rest of Edinburgh’s points came from Simon Hickey, who converted three tries and a penalty, and replacement Jaco Van Der Walt, who added the extras for Van Der Merwe’s third score.

Scarlets’ points came from a secondhalf Marc Jones try that was converted by Dan Jones, but they were 29-0 down at the time and had little chance of making it four Guinness PRO14 wins from four this season.

An enforced pre-match reshuffle saw Henry Pyrgos start in place of Nic Groom – and assume the captaincy – for Edinburgh. And he featured prominently in a blistering start by the home side, as they ran the ball at a Scarlets side that was stunned by the ferocity and pace of the early onslaught.

Edinburgh opened the scoring after six minutes when a powerful surge by Ally Miller carried play deep into the Scarlets 22. He fed Pyrgos and the scrum-half lobbed a pass to Van Der Merwe who completed the job.

Van Der Merwe’s second try came just three minutes later, with Bennett supplying the scoring pass this time.

Scarlets looked shell-shocked by that double blow but gradually worked their way into the game. However, it was the Scottish outfit that added the next points. Willemse threw to the tail at a close-range lineout then picked up at the ensuing ruck before plunging over, with Hickey again adding the extras.

Scarlets thought they had cut the deficit when Kieran Hardy darted in at the corner, but the final pass from Taylor Davies was judged forward after referring to the television match official.

Edinburgh capitalised on that let off by immediately securing the four-try bonus when they raced upfield and Pyrgos fed Bennett, who dived over between the sticks. Hickey converted.

Edinburgh lock Fraser Mckenzie was shown a yellow card but the Welsh side failed to profit from the opportunity and went into the interval 26-0 behind.

The hosts spent the first 10 minutes of the second half in Scarlets territory and Hickey stroked over a penalty.

Two multi-phase attacks by Scarlets stretched the home defence and a quickly-taken penalty by Dan Jones provided the platform for another sustained effort that ended with Marc Jones going over to leave the try’s creator a simple conversion.

Any hopes of a fightback were quelled when a lineout allowed Willemse to repeat the move that had yielded his first-half touchdown.

Edinburgh added gloss to an impressive team performance when Van Der Merwe sprinted in to complete his hat-trick before Sau raced over to finish the scoring.

Picture: SNS. Hat-trick hero Duhan Van Der Merwe runs in one of his tries.