PEEL PURRS AS SCARLETS SHINE
THE Scarlets produced arguably their best performance of the season as they turned Saturday’s United Rugby Championship game on its head in thrilling fashion to claim a bonus-point victory.
Having trailed 10-0 just before the break, they claimed tries either side of the interval and from there didn’t look back.
Wing Steff Evans, skipper Scott Williams, Wales squad scrum-half Gareth Davies, No. 8 Sione Kalamafoni and wing Ryan Conbeer were the players to touch down, with Kalamafoni named man of the match.
It left Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel delighted as his side brought the visitors’ five-match winning run in the URC to an end.
Glasgow opened the scoring after just four minutes as their early pressure was rewarded.
Twice they opted to kick penalties into the corner, and from the second they struck.
The score came off a well-organised line-out drive rounded off by Aussie No. 8 Jack Dempsey, with flyhalf Duncan Weir adding the conversion and a subsequent penalty to build a 10-0 lead.
The visitors dominated the opening period in terms of possession and territory, with the penalties mounting in their favour.
But then, just before the break, the Scarlets hit back with a well-worked score off first phase.
From a Blade Thomson line-out take midway inside Glasgow territory, the ball was moved into midfield, where Rhys Patchell threw a pass back inside to send his half-back partner Gareth Davies through a gap.
Davies then fed Steff Evans, with the wing showing his pace and predatory nature as he delivered a sharp finish.
Patchell converted to make it 10-7 at half-time and, when play resumed, the Scarlets made a dream start to the second period as Scott Williams rounded off an incisive attack.
As the ball was moved left, flanker Dan Davis put in a key offload to release Evans out wide, with the winger giving the inside scoring pass to Williams
and Patchell converting.
All of a sudden, the hosts were leading 14-10.
Then just before the hour mark came a critical passage of play in terms of the outcome.
Glasgow scrum-half Jamie Dobie crossed after a break from full-back Ollie Smith, but the try was disallowed for obstruction by Ryan Wilson on opposite number Blade
Thomson in the build-up.
From the resulting penalty, Patchell kicked to the corner and off the line-out maul, scrum-half Davies struck.
He broke away from the maul and stepped inside wing Cole Forbes before putting in another step and driving through the tackle of Dobie to reach the line.
The Scarlets now had the wind in
their sails and claimed the bonuspoint try on 64 minutes, when No. 8 Kalamafoni just managed to get the ball down having collected it on the bounce after Ryan Conbeer had thrown it inside.
Provider then turned scorer as winger Conbeer delivered a great finish in the corner after receiving a long pass from replacement hooker Marc Jones.