Senior players need to support Peel, insists Holley

SEAN Holley has urged the Scarlets’ senior players to step up and help Dwayne Peel turn around a testing situation at the Llanelli-based region.

The West Walians stand 15th in the United Rugby Championship table, with only Zebre below them after a difficult start to the season.

They have won just one game out of their opening six and are being hit hard by injuries and suspensions, with 18 players unavailable for the game with Connacht last Friday evening.

Appearing on BBC’S Scrum V programme, former Ospreys head coach Holley was asked where the Scarlets were at the moment. “They are still in a hole,” he said.

“Injuries are not helping. They had to get Dan Thomas on loan for a couple of weeks.

“You can see he (Peel) is under a bit of pressure.

“I feel for him and some of the players need to step up.

“What they don’t need now is a blame culture and finger pointing.

“They need to rally together and get behind Dwayne.”

The defeat by Connacht in Galway saw the Scarlets lose their way in the second half after a resolute opening 40 minutes that saw them turn around just five points adrift.