PEEL: SCARLETS DO NEED TO IMPROVE
SCARLETS boss Dwayne Peel admits his side are stuck in a hole after their 16-10 home Welsh derby loss to Cardiff.
Three defeats and a draw in their first four games means the Scarlets are yet to win this season.
Only Italian minnows Zebre are below them in the United Rugby Championship.
The two teams meet in a basement battle next weekend in a game the Scarlets simply have to win.
“We are in a bit of a hole, that’s the truth of it,” conceded Peel as he surveyed the wreckage of his team’s Welsh derby defeat.
“There is only us who can fight out of that.
“We have to relish the fight in getting out of this situation.
“We don’t want to be here but it is the reality.
“We have to be better. “There is a bit of nervous tension and it is down to me and the staff to alleviate that.”
Meanwhile, Cardiff boss Dai Young hopes the coming days will bring clarity over the club’s investigation into the behaviour of some players at a pub last weekend.
The build-up to the derby was dominated by allegations that some Cardiff players behaved “appallingly” and threw eggs at The Grange pub following their defeat to the Lions.
Young said he was not involved in the investigation but hoped it would reach some form of conclusion in the coming days.
“As we’ve already said, the process is under way and we’re in the middle of the process at the minute,” he said. “I’m not a part of that process.
“I’m sure you’ll respect that I can’t say any more than that on the subject.”
But Cardiff put their turbulent week behind them to win a turgid derby.
The visitors took the lead inside the first 10 minutes when their first real foray into the home half resulted in
Steff Thomas being penalised for not rolling away and Jarrod Evans kicked the first points from the tee.
But the game then meandered through the first 25 minutes with little incident.
Both teams, who had one win in six between them prior to the match, looked desperately low on confidence.
The Scarlets kicked a lot of ball away, lacking the dynamism in attack required to cause the visitors any sort of problems.
Much of the kicking was inaccurate but enough to win the territory battle.
Cardiff lived off scraps but looked the more dangerous and polished when they had the ball, though opportunities were infrequent.
A hushed din set in over Parc y Scarlets, which suggested the crowd were far from invested in what was happening on the pitch. But in fairness, there was little to get excited about.
Leigh Halfpenny levelled the scores with a penalty in the 22nd minute, but then Cardiff made wine out of water.
Tomos Williams gathered a loose ball and probed a little before sending one of the big men into contact. Rhys Carre made a line break after some weak Scarlets defence and popped to Williams for an easy runin.
Simple as you like. Evans converted.
The hosts thought they’d hit back straightaway but fly-half Sam Costelow’s final pass to Corey Baldwin was forward and a try was wiped out.
There were no more scores before the break.
Two quick Evans penalties in the second half extended Cardiff’s lead to 13 points before their discipline started to crumble. The Scarlets didn’t play particularly intricate rugby but were given easy access to Cardiff’s 22 thanks to a flurry of penalties.
Cardiff, to their credit, stood firm on their own line and it took the Scarlets
an age to finally break the visitors down, despite Kirby Myhill being sent to the sin-bin for repeated team infringements.
Eventually a neat set-play saw Halfpenny send Johnny McNicholl over and in the final five minutes it looked like the Scarlets were going to snatch it.
Theo Cabango was sent to the sinbin for being offside on his own line but then Vaea Fifita was shown a red card for a dangerous clearout on Shane Lewis-Hughes as advantage was being played.
The penalty was reversed, Cardiff cleared their lines and the final few minutes of a forgettable derby fizzled out.