Costelow on target to help Scarlets to season’s best
IT’s been a tough season for Scarlets but a phenomenal effort sent the fully-loaded Sharks packing. This was only their sixth victory in 16 league outgoings but the four points keep alive their hopes of European Cup qualification for next season by winning the Welsh Shield.
Playing with terrific heart and finesse they overcame the loss of a number of first team regulars to achieve their best win of the season.
Sam Lousi and Sione Kalamafoni led the way up front while Johnny Williams and Gareth Davies illustrated what Wales may have missed in this season’s Six Nations in terms of attacking flair with Sam Costelow’s exemplary goal-kicking ensuring that Scarlets always had their noses in front.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “I’m proud of our performance as it was Test level rugby. They had an abundance of world class players. It was a very physical game, our lineout defence was outstanding so the boys will remember this night.”
Scarlets exploded out of the blocks to rattle the South Africans. First Steff Evans and Gareth Davies combined brilliantly to make 75m before the scoring pass went astray. However another breathtaking passage of play, involving both backs and forwards, ended with Evans finishing it off for an early lead.
However the hosts suffered a blow when Dan Davis hobbled off but they overcame this setback to extend their lead with two penalties from Costelow.
Sharks struggled to
get a foothold in the first quarter but they raised their game to reduce the arrears when Siya Kolisi forced his way over from close-range with a conversion from Curwin Bosch leaving them 13-7 behind at the interval.
After the restart Bosch kicked a penalty but against the run of play Scarlets scored a second try. A speculative cross-field from Costelow bounced unfavourably for two covering Sharks and Evans was on hand to boot the ball forward before collecting it to score.
Costelow converted and kicked two penalties but a converted try from Bongi Mbonambi from a driving line-out put Sharks back into contention. Bosch nailed a penalty from half-way to set nerves jangling but two more successes from Costelow saw his side to a notable victory.