Davies in charge as Scarlets find form
A TREMENDOUS allround performance from scrum-half Gareth Davies gave Wayne Pivac something to think about as he helped fire the Scarlets to a stunning bonus point victory over Glasgow.
The Wales scrum-half hasn’t figured much during the Six Nations, but he was mightily impressive at Parc y Scarlets with his experienced and game breaking ability proving too much for Glasgow to handle.
Dwayne Peel’s side have struggled this season, but they scored 28 unanswered points in the second half with a performance full of pace, skill, and panache. “We absorbed a lot of pressure from Glasgow,” said Peel. “It was important we changed the way played; we didn't really give the ball to the backs at all in the first 20 minutes.
“Our first up tackling was poor, and we allowed them dominance in that area. Once we fixed that and got some front-foot ball the tries either side of halftime were huge for us.
“To score two tries in quick succession in the second half was excellent. We saw flashes of the way we want to play.”
It took Glasgow five minutes to breach the Scarlets defence with hooker Johnny Matthews powering over from short range courtesy of a well-worked driving lineout. Duncan Weir added the extras, but Scarlets hit back with a period of pressure in the Glasgow half, but it ultimately came to nothing when they were penalised at a five-metre lineout.
Glasgow controlled the majority of the first half, and they extended their lead through Weir’s boot. The Scarlets attack finally clicked with a lovely flick from Rhys Patchell releasing Davies who sliced open the Glasgow defence.
The Wales scrum-half drew in the last defender to give Steff Evans a clear run in. Patchell added the extras meaning the hosts trailed 10-7 at half time.
The Scarlets struck just after half time with a wellworked try. They spread the ball into the wide channels with some nice handling from Blade Thomson, Dan Davis, and Evans putting Williams over for the try. Patchell converted to nudge the Scarlets into the lead. Glasgow thought they had scored after a tremendous break from full back Ollie Smith who made 40 metres before putting Jamie Dobie over. But the try was disallowed after the television match official spotted Ryan Wilson blocking Blade Thomson from making a tackle.
That proved costly for
the visitors as Patchell drove the Scarlets deep into the Glasgow 22 from the resulting penalty. And Wales No.9 Davies beat three defenders to score the Scarlets’ third try.
The west Walians were now full of confidence and a tremendous break from Ryan Conbeer got behind the Glasgow defence before the wing put Kalamafoni over for the bonus point try. Some lovely handling from Aaron Shingler, Carwyn Tuipulotu and Mark Jones allowing Conbeer to show his pace as he touched down for his first try of the season.
“It was a mixture of poor execution from us, and very good attack from the Scarlets along with injury and illness with us having to make a host of changes,” said Glasgow head coach Danny Wilson.
“There were huge swings in that period of time. There was that fivemetre lineout which was a long arm delivery at the maul, then they go down the other end and score.”