HALFPENNY SENDS TO WALES BOSS AS
VETERAN Leigh Halfpenny and rookie Sam Costelow each gave Wales boss Wayne Pivac an autumn nudge as the Scarlets finally won their first game of the season.
Halfpenny kicked 11 points and Costelow went over for two tries in the Scarlets’ win over Zebre.
Although it was only the Italian minnows as opposition, it was still a timely reminder to Pivac of the form of the Scarlets pair.
With Liam Williams injured for the four November matches, Halfpenny is hoping for a return at full-back.
Wales could need his marksmanship from the tee in the November 5 opener with New Zealand given the doubts about the fitness of fellow kicking experts Dan Biggar and Gareth Anscombe.
If those two are missing, the No. 10 jersey will be up for grabs and 21-year-old Costelow has been one of the few shining lights for the Scarlets this season.
He has overtaken Rhys Patchell in the fly-half pecking order out west and, like Halfpenny, will be hoping his current form catches the eye of Pivac.
The Scarlets hit the front early and never looked back.
In the opening minutes they probed around the Zebre 22 before a slick pass from the returning Scott Williams sent Sam Lousi up the far touchline. His basketball pass inside to Costelow gave the fly-half a simple finish, which Halfpenny duly converted from out wide.
Zebre were stubborn for a period after that and got a try of their own through flanker MJ Pelser, which went unconverted. But the Scarlets’ quality began to show.
Costelow made a searing break midway through the half that almost resulted in a try for Jonathan Davies, but it was ruled out for a knock-on as Kieran Hardy was dragged down a metre short of the line.
But the second try came shortly before the half-hour mark. Again
there was a sustained period of pressure deep in the Zebre half before the Italians eventually cracked and Lousi, usually a lock but packing down at blindside flanker, burrowed over from close range. The simple conversion was light work for Halfpenny.
It looked ominous for the visitors and it got even more so when prop Luca Rizzoli was sent to the sin-bin for a late shoulder charge on Scarlets centre Williams in the 36th minute.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, the Scarlets drove home their numerical advantage when captain Davies crossed for a confidenceboosting score after a quiet start to the season.
It wasn’t the prettiest but it still counted for five points as Sione Kalamafoni made a dent off the back of a five-metre scrum. The ball was quick and Davies showed composure to twist out of some desperate defence and dot the ball down.
Halfpenny added another conversion and the Scarlets led 21-5 at the break.
The hosts secured the bonus point early in the second half when diminutive pivot Costelow spotted a huge gap in the defence and hit the jets to scythe through. It meant another easy conversion for Halfpenny.
Things then became trickier than they needed to be when the Scarlets picked up their second red card in as many weeks as Lousi followed Vaea Fifita in being sent off.
His offence was a shoulder to the head of Zebre fly-half Geronimo Prisciantelli, leaving South African referee Morne Ferreira, who was making his league debut, no choice.
It got a little tense a few moments later when the visitors crossed for their second try through full-back Lorenzo Pani, which Prisciantelli converted.
Rain then battered Parc y Scarlets as the hosts settled things down. Hardy saw a try disallowed as the game approached the hour mark but Halfpenny extended the lead with a penalty in the final 10 minutes to stretch the lead back out to 19 points.
Ryan Conbeer went over out wide in the final stages to put the icing on the cake and wrap up a very welcome victory in Llanelli.