DERBY DOUBLE AT A CANTER
WALES boss Wayne Pivac is sweating on the fitness of two more players for the summer tour to South Africa after Lions prop Wyn Jones and backthree star Johnny Mcnicholl limped out of Saturday’s Welsh derby action.
The duo were forced from the field with knee injuries as the Scarlets beat Cardiff at the Arms Park. The extent of the problems will be assessed in the coming days, with Jones in clear discomfort and requiring a scan.
“It will be wait and see with those two,” said Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel. “Wyn was in pain and we get him scanned early in the week and hope it is not too bad.”
Pivac will be an interested observer as he continues to plan his squad for the daunting three-test showdown with the world champion Springboks in June and July.
The Wales boss is already concerned about the fitness of star wing Josh Adams, who might not play again for Cardiff this season with a knee issue of his own.
Veterans Ken Owens and Leigh Halfpenny have definitely been ruled out, but Pivac is hopeful Ross Moriarty will be okay after his own recent injury scare. It was feared Moriarty would be sidelined for some time, but those concerns appear to have been eased by the Dragons.
On Saturday Cardiff-bound Liam Williams scored two tries as the Scarlets completed a quickfire double over Cardiff with an impressive second half to win 49-14 and make them firm favourites for a Heineken Champions Cup spot next season.
After last Saturday’s 35-20 defeat at Parc y Scarlets, Cardiff made an enterprising start to build up a 14-point lead but their opponents’ pack, aided by two yellow cards, then took total control of the match as the home side folded tamely.
Aaron Shingler, Tom Rogers, Jonathan Davies and Dan Davis were also on the try-scoring sheet and there was a penalty try awarded too, with Sam Costelow converting four and Angus O’brien two.
Theo Cabango and Lloyd Williams scored Cardiff’s tries with Jarrod Evans adding two conversions.
Despite losing captain Josh Turnbull to injury in the warm-up, Cardiff made an impressive start.
Rhys Carre and Matthew Morgan both made penetrative runs to test the visitors’ defence before the ball was spun wide for Cabango to skin Johnny Mcnicholl and score.
The home side soon added a second when Owen Lane sailed past lock Jac Price to provide Lloyd Williams with an easy run-in.
Evans converted both and missed a penalty attempt before Scarlets suffered a double injury blow when forwards Ryan Elias and Price clashed heads and were forced to leave the field.
Despite this setback, the visitors livened up when Rogers and Mcnicholl combined dangerously down the right flank and it took an excellent cover tackle from Evans to keep Cardiff’s line intact.
However, Scarlets continued to increase their influence and with the last move of the half Shingler brushed aside a weak tackle from Morgan to score with Costelow’s touchline conversion leaving his side trailing 14-7 at the interval.
Two minutes after the restart, Scarlets drew level when Mcnicholl ran elusively to send Liam Williams over but almost immediately Mcnicholl became his side’s third casualty of the afternoon.
The hosts then suffered a big blow when Evans was yellow-carded for a high challenge on Scarlets centre Johnny Williams, with the visitors taking immediate advantage by winning a penalty try award following a dragged down line-out.
As a result, Seb Davies joined Evans in the sin-bin and it therefore came as no surprise when the Scarlets scored their bonus-point try with Davis forcing his way over from close range.
Jones was helped off with a leg injury only 15 minutes after coming on as a replacement but his side continued to dominate, with Cardiff-bound Williams, Rogers and Davies all strolling through some weak defence to complete the home side’s misery.
Scarlets boss Peel said of Lions and Wales full-back Williams: “He was back in this week because I thought the game suited him. We just spoke about how important it is for him to finish his Scarlets career in the manner he has always played.
“He’s a tough cookie, he’s got great skills, but what people will remember about him is that he’s a fantastic player, but he’s got an edge about him.
“I think we saw that edge today and that’s what I want to see from him.”
It was a rare regional appearance for Williams, for differing reasons only his seventh over the last two seasons.
But he will be hoping to build on it before moving to the Arms Park as the Scarlets round off their regular season with three more Welsh derbies, two against the Dragons (at home this Saturday, 7.35pm, and away on April 23, 3pm) and one versus the Ospreys (away on April 30, 5.15pm), and a final home match with the Stormers (on Saturday, May 21).