Scarlets move out of the basement

REPORT: Gareth Davies ran in two of Scarlets’ four tries as they picked up a fourth win of the season with a 32-18 bonus-point victory over Zebre Parma at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.

Ryan Elias and Tomi Lewis also went over for the Welsh Region, with Ioan Lloyd adding three conversions and Sam Costelow sending over a pair of penalties.

Giovanni Licata and Mohamed Hasa were the try-scorers for the Italians, with Giovanni Montemauri converting one and adding two penalties.

The home side made a quick start and were rewarded when captain Licata picked the ball up from the back of a ruck and powered through a couple of weak Scarlets tackles to touch down under the posts and Montemauri added the simple conversion.

But Scarlets responded and, after knocking on the door and being continually held up over the line five metres out, the forwards kept battling away and Elias powered his way over from close range. Lloyd could not convert from out on the right.

The Scarlets then went ahead midway through the second half when quick hands down the right opened up the Zebre defence.

Taine Plumtree’s superb offload found Lewis, who ploughed down the wing and drew his tackler before a simple inside pass to the supporting Davies saw the scrum-half run in for an easy try.

But a pair of Montemauri penalties saw the home side retake the lead in an end-to-end contest.

Davies ran in for his second try after intercepting a poor pass from Montemauri and running in unopposed from 50 metres out.

The bonus point was secured for the visitors when quick hands again stretched the Zebre back line and Lewis slid in to score.

But Zebre would not go away and they got themselves back into the game when Hasa bundled his way over in the corner after a charged down kick had created the platform.

Two late Costelow penalties put the game to bed.

Player of the Match:  Scarlets scrumhalf Gareth Davies was everywhere for the Welsh side and his reading of the game was evident as he was well-placed to run in his two tries with relative ease.

Play of the Match: Scarlets second try was all about the off-load from Taine Plumtree, His strength enabled him to hold off the tackler and free Tomi Lewis to streak clear down the right and flick an inside pass to Davies to run in and score.

The scorers:

For Zebre:
Tries: Licata, Hasa
Con: Montemauri
Pens: Montemauri 2

For Scarlets:
Tries: Elias, Davies 2, Lewis
Cons: Lloyd 3
Pens: Costelow 2

Teams: 

Zebre Parma: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Lorenzo Pani, 10 Giovanni Montemauri, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Giovanni Licata (Captain), 7 Davide Ruggeri, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Giampietro Ribaldi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Alessio Sanavia, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 David Sisi, 20 Matteo Canali, 21 Thomas Dominguez, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Bautista Stavile

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tomi Lewis, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Eddie James, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Morgan Jones, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Harri O’Connor, 2 Ryan Elias (captain), 1 Kemsley Mathias
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jarrod Taylor, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Macs Page

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Clara Munarini (Italy) and Alberto Falvero (Italy)
TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)