Scarlets scrap for big away day win after Jones’ late red

THIS was far from pretty from the Scarlets – in fact it was downright ugly – but the win was the most important thing from Glenn Delaney’s point of view.

Even with Wales star Liam Williams back in their side, the men from Llanelli struggled as they made plenty of mistakes over the course of the 80 minutes.

Wet conditions did make things difficult, but in the end the Scarlets scored the only try through replacement Paul Asquith and held out with some gritty defence despite lock Morgan Jones being sent off.

“It was a massive effort,” said Delaney. “It was always going to be tough in difficult conditions. The greasy ball meant it turned into a battle for field position and it was about who made the least mistakes.

“Benetton are a wellcoached, well-organised team and they played to a certain game plan and we had to go toe-to-toe with them with that. It was important we stayed in the arm wrestle.

“I thought we had a couple of chances to score if we had held on to the last pass and we took our try well in the second half.

“I am incredibly proud of the resolve and effort, particularly in those closing exchanges. It really showed the character of the group.

“Obviously, we come away with a lot to work on before next week’s game against Edinburgh. We want to be playing more heads-up rugby and trying to move the ball around, but coming to Treviso is never easy. We haven’t won here since 2017 so we will take that.”

Williams impressed on his Scarlets return. He played 66 minutes and produced one searing counter-attacking break.

Scarlets were 3-0 down at the break and struggling after Ian Keatley kicked the Italian goal.

In the second half the impressive Angus O’Brien levelled the scores, missed another penalty from halfway, and then produced a fine kick and chase in the build-up to Asquith's try.

Asquith exchanged passes with Tyler Morgan and the try was given via the TMO.

Scarlets looked in trouble when Jones was sent off on 73 minutes for a high tackle, but they held out with Uzair Cassiem producing an impressive late turnover. It was a vital moment which gave Delaney’s men their first PRO14 win of the season.

“He blew away a couple of cobwebs out there and will be better for that experience,” Delaney said of Williams. “That run he had in the first half, it was great to see him in full flight.”