Returning Wales stars can’t halt losing run
CARDIFF slumped to a sixth straight defeat in all competitions after failing to build on an impressive first-half display at high-flying Glasgow Warriors.
The visitors, boosted by the return of four Welsh internationals, raced out the blocks in horrendous conditions at Scotstoun on Friday night.
An early Tinus de Beer penalty handing them the advantage after just three minutes.
De Beer slotted over another three points from the tee 20 minutes later, as Cardiff continued to settle into the contest, while only an intervention from lock Max Williamson on the line prevented the visitors from going over to score the game’s first try.
However, the Cardiff weren’t to be denied, and just over a minute later did manage to cross the whitewash.
Thomas Young did brilliantly to break the Glasgow line, before Cardiff fired their way through the offloads to set up Ben Thomas to go over in the corner for a converted score.
The Warriors had previously suffered just three defeats at home in the last three years, but had it all to do heading into the half-time break, with Cardiff looking good for a sensational first win over the Scottish side since 2013.
However, the hosts galvanised themselves in the second half, and hauled themselves back into the game just two minutes after the restart.
Some fine work from Jamie Dobie teed up Williamson, who stepped past Young to crash over for his first ever try for the Warriors.
Ten minutes later, the hosts were in front, with Dobie again at the heart of proceedings, coming up just short of the line, before his team-mates worked through the phases to allow Lucio Sordoni to eventually go over.
Duncan Weir slotted home the extras on both occasions, and suddenly it was Cardiff who were finding themselves under the cosh.
Weir then kicked over a penalty after Cardiff were penalised at the breakdown as Glasgow continue to edge their way home.
Kyle Steyn thought he’d wrapped it up with a try at 10 minutes from time, only to see it chalked off due to a forward pass from Josh McKay.
But while the bonus point proved elusive, Glasgow had done enough to claim a victory that moves them up to second.
ALAST-GASP try from replacement hooker Eddie Swart sealed the Scarlets’ first win since December as they beat Benetton 16-13 in Llanelli. It capped a dramatic final few minutes that saw one match-winning try chalked off, before Swart’s heroics ended a run of eight defeats in all competitions.
The Scarlets’ last win in any competition came against Cardiff at the Arms Park in early December, with their last victory at Parc y Scarlets also against the Blue and Blacks in November.
That run of form has left them sitting towards the bottom of the United Rugby Championship and you feared that, despite being the better team in Llanelli, they’d fail to turn that into a win once again.
At times, the Scarlets were their own worst enemy – adding to their misery with a series of unforced errors.
Confidence, understandably, seems low down west and that showed with a scrappy and sloppy first-half performance. Offloads were forced and passes were read comfortably by the Italian defence.
All too often, the frustration told as they put themselves under pressure with some loose handling or questionable decision-making.
Sam Costelow, back in the Scarlets fly-half jersey after a first Six Nations campaign with Wales, opened the scoring from the tee after two minutes.
However, the boot of Jacob Umaga drew the Italians level two minutes later.
Then, after 11 minutes, Costelow’s competitor for the Welsh 10 jersey,
Ioan Lloyd, was no match for the power of Onisi Ratave. The Fijian wing powered through the Scarlets full-back on his way to the whitewash – crossing for the only try of the first half.
The boot of Umaga extended Benetton’s lead to 10 points before the break.
Two penalties from Costelow early in the first-half brought Dwayne Peel’s side to within four points, but try as they might, it looked like they’d fall desperately short.
Despite impressive moments from Lloyd and scrum-half replacement Kieran Hardy, the Scarlets struggled to piece anything of note together in order to snatch victory.
That looked to be the case right up until the dying seconds, when a halfbreak from Hardy put Steff Evans into some space.
The replacement wing just about got over the line, only for the ball to be held up when the Scarlets thought they’d won it at the death.
Despite Malakai Fekitoa’s heroics to hold up Evans, the Scarlets would have one more chance. Piling everyone into a maul, Swart proved the hero as the Llanelli side powered over into the corner long after the clock had gone red.
After a lengthy TMO check, the score was awarded – with Costelow slotting a conversion out wide that will only serve to boost his confidence – and the Scarlets’ wait for a victory came to an end.