Van der Merwe sprints home to boost Scarlets
TWO tries from DTH van der Merwe helped Scarlets kick off their campaign with a comfortable win over Sale at Parc y Scarlets.
With Pool 3 also containing defending champions Saracens and French giants Toulon, both these sides knew victory was key if they were to offer any genuine challenge for knock-out qualification.
The Welsh region, who lost all six pool games last term, took the spoils thanks to a brace from their Canadian wing, an opportunist score from Gareth Davies and 13 points from the boot of Rhys Patchell.
Hooker Neil Briggs scored Sale’s only try from a driving maul, while fly-half Dan Mugford added six points with the boot.
But Steve Diamond’s men never threatened to claim a valuable away win after trailing by 13 points at the end of the first quarter.
Mugford kicked Sale into an early lead but Patchell quickly settled any home nerves by levelling the scores after nine minutes.
Sale barely touched the ball during the opening exchanges as they profited from a lack of accuracy from the home side.
But it was their own error in possession that led to the game’s first try. Mugford took too long to clear his lines and saw his kick charged down by Davies.
The Wales scrum-half reacted quickest to scoop up the loose ball and dot down, with Patchell converting.
Sale had to contend with further self-inflicted damage as a lost line-out allowed the Scarlets to pour into their 22, where the visitors strayed offside in defence to allow Patchell to extend the lead to 10 points.
It soon became 13 as the Sharks pack went off their feet and Patchell had no problem finding the target from just inside the Sale half.
The visitors did not string an extended spell of possession together until the 23rd minute, and they were rewarded with a try to bring them back into the contest. The Scarlets did well to repel one driving maul, but Briggs dotted down when the next effort found the weak spot in the home defence.
However, they were put on the back foot again by Van der Merwe’s first score.
Davies made the break from the base of the scrum, and when the ball was recycled Patchell’s cross-kick allowed the Canada winger to pirouette over in the corner.
A Mugford penalty got the visitors back within 10 points at the start of the second half, but the loss of prop Ross Harrison to the bin for a high shot on Ken Owens gave the hosts the chance to put the game to bed.
They did so with another sharp finish from Van der Merwe. A neat wraparound move created the space and Patchell’s long, floating pass got the winger outside his man to fly in a the corner.
That opened up a 17point gap and the chance of a bonus point, particularly when Sale lost replacement Andrey Ostrikov saw yellow for a high tackle, but the Scarlets could not find a fourth try.