WILLIAMS SEES RED SURGE GIVES BLUES
LIAM Williams couldn’t hide his frustration at being sent off for the Scarlets in their PRO14 defeat to Cardiff Blues on Saturday evening.
The Wales and Lions star was dismissed towards the end of the first half at Cardiff City Stadium after a reckless entry into a ruck that saw him make direct contact to the head of Blues flanker Shane LewisHughes.
After a short pause while he consulted the TMO, referee Craig Evans deemed it to be serious foul play and handed the 29-year-old his marching orders.
Williams, clearly disappointed with the decision, then appeared to have a few words of his own as he left he field.
The Wales international was picked up on the referee’s microphone asking Evans: “We’ll start playing touch, shall we?”
The comment is unlikely to be looked upon favourably at any resulting disciplinary hearing, with Williams almost certain to face a suspension for his actions.
It’s the third time Williams has seen red in his career, with two of those cards coming against the Blues.
On the incident, Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney said: “The referee slowed it down well enough to look at it.
“It didn’t look like much at real speed but once they’ve slow it down and decided what they felt it was, that’s the result we got.
“Liam’s obviously a quality player and he was adding to the occasion.
“It takes away the opportunity for him to play for us, which is a shame, but we battled on.”
Cardiff Blues assistant coach Richard Hodges, who was in charge of the team following John Mulvihill’s departure earlier in the week, said: “I have a degree of sympathy for him but it’s the way it’s being refereed now.
“I don’t think there is any malice in there at all but unfortunately it’s the letter of the law nowadays.
“I think the referee can only make one decision there. It’s certainly a big game changer.”
The Blues put a turbulent week behind them after the premature departure of their head coach.
The hosts started well and won early territory, which proved fruitful when Liam Belcher got in over Sione Kalamafoni to win a penalty deep inside the Scarlets half.
Fly-half Jarrod Evans stepped up to knock over his first points of the night – but the visitors would soon be ahead.
An indiscretion from Josh Turnbull at a breakdown around halfway allowed Dan Jones to boot the Scarlets down to the Blues’ five-metre line. The ball was scrappy and the move was slow to build, but it burst into life when the backline flashed to the near side.
Jones showed good patience as Evans shot out of the defensive line, and he found Jonathan Davies, who ran over Matthew Morgan on his way to the line.
Leigh Halfpenny converted. The hosts hit back almost immediately, though, when their diminutive No. 10 jinked inside Davies to burst through a gap, draw the last man and send Willis Halaholo on a sprint to the line.
Evans missed the conversion but the Blues were back in front.
The two fly-halves traded penalties either side of the half-hour mark, but the Blues were controlling proceedings relatively well.
Half-backs Evans and Tomos Williams were lively and the pair linked up for the Blues’ second try in the 36th minute when Evans stood up the tight Scarlets defence with a dummy and scurried his way through.
He fed Williams, who offloaded to Rey Lee-lo and the centre finished acrobatically in the corner.
Evans nailed the touchline conversion and the Blues led by eight points.
Then came the game’s real flashpoint when Scarlets winger Williams was shown a red card. He entered a ruck recklessly, leading with the head, and made contact with the head of Lewis-hughes, who was prone on the floor.
After consulting with the TMO, referee Evans was left with no choice but to show the red.
The Blues went in leading 18-10 at the break and with a one-man advantage for 42 minutes.
Early in the second half, Halfpenny chipped away at the lead with a longrange penalty.
The Blues were then penalised for driving early at a line-out around halfway and the Scarlets got field position.
At a scrum on the five-metre line, powerful Scarlets No. 8 Sione Kal
amafoni picked up from the base and thundered his way through Lee-lo and Halaholo to score. Halfpenny converted to kick the Scarlets into the lead.
Around the hour mark, replacement home prop Rhys Carre was shown a yellow card within minutes of coming on for a late, no-arms tackle on Scarlets tight-head Javan Sebastian. But it did not halt the hosts.
With more space on the field, the Blues went through phases and were met with some ferocious defence. But Evans put a deft chip towards the near touchline and found flanker Jim Botham, who turned Scarlets skipper Davies inside out before being dragged down five metres out.
Scrum-half Williams was on the scene in a flash and slithered down the short side unopposed to put his side back into the lead. Evans missed the conversion.
In their desperation the Scarlets began infringing and Evans added two late penalties to stretch the deficit to nine, with the hosts running out comfortable victors in the end.
CARDIFF Blues: Matthew Morgan; Josh Adams, Rey Lee-lo, Wills Halaholo, Hallam Amos; Jarrod
Evans, Tomos Williams; Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher, Dmitri Arhip, James Ratti, Cory (capt) Hill, Shane Lewis-hughes, Josh Turnbull, James Botham. Reps: Ethan Lewis, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Alun Lawrence, Lloyd Williams, Ben Thomas, Aled Summerhill.
SCARLETS: Leigh Halfpenny; Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies (capt),
Johnny Williams, Steff Evans; Dan Jones, Gareth Davies; Phil Price, Marc Jones, Pieter Scholtz, Tevita Ratuva, Sam Lousi, Blade Thomson, Sione Kalamafoni, Josh Macleod. Reps: Ryan Elias, Kemsley Mathias, Javan Sebastian, Josh Helps, Ed Kennedy, Kieran Hardy, Sam Costelow, Paul Asquith.
REFEREE: Craig Evans ( WRU).