Jarrod rules after Liam red
WELSH star Liam Williams, was sent off in the 37th minute to ruin Scarlets’ chances of a hat-trick of Welsh derby wins.
Williams, in his first match back after injury, rushed headlong into a ruck and clashed heads with prone Blues’ flanker, Shane Lewis Hughes, and after TMO replays, the wing was ordered off.
At that stage Blues were already in control of the match thanks to an inspirational performance from outside half Jarrod Evans who ensured that his side put a difficult time behind them.
Earlier in the week, Blues announced the departure of John Mulvihill following a two and a half year tenure as head coach with Dai Young replacing the Australian by returning to his former post on Monday.
On the evidence of this game, Young will be heartened as to Blues’ prospects for the remainder for apart from a masterclass from Evans, there were impressive efforts from centres, Willis Halaholo and Ray Lee-Loo, who, along with scrum-half Tomos Williams, ensured the commitment of the forwards didn’t go unrewarded.
Blues began brightly when Williams raced away from a line-out drive to feed Josh Adams. The wing then kicked ahead and his followup tackle earned a 5m scrum before Evans kicked his side into the lead with a penalty.
Blues had the better of the opening exchanges but it was the visitors who scored the first.
A couple of penalties awarded in their favour saw them gain a platform in the Cardiff 22 from where a well-judged pass from Dan Jones enabled Jon Davies to brush aside Matthew Morgan’s tackle to score.
Scarlets’ lead lasted only four minutes as Evans showed neat skills to split their defence with Halaholo on hand to race over.
The visitors suffered a further setback when Gareth Davies, was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on with Evans kicking the resulting penalty but the only other score in the scrum-half ’s absence was a penalty kicked by Jones as Leigh Halfpenny was recovering from a knock.
Davies had only just returned when Evans again tore the visitors’ defence apart to feed Williams who sent Lee-Lo over in the corner.
Evans converted from the touchline to give his side an 18-10 lead before Williams was sent off.
Four minutes after the restart, Halfpenny reduced the arrears with a penalty as his side’s depleted pack surprisingly took temporary control.
Without seasoned internationals, Ken Owens, Samson Lee and Jake Ball and down to 14, they were still a match for the home eight with Sione Kalamafoni and Tevita Ratuva to the fore and Kalamafoni drove over to regain the lead for Scarlets.
Blues replacement loosehead Rhys Carre was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle but they overcame this setback when Tomos Williams darted over to set up a grandstand finish.
Carre returned from the bin to see two late penalties from Evans secure a morale-boosting victory and send Scarlets home without a deserved losing bonus point.