Scarlets' South African key to bonus-point win
MATCH REPORT: Scarlets picked up four valuable United Rugby Championship points by winning a dour encounter against Edinburgh 30-24 in Llanelli.
Five of the seven tries were scored by forwards from close range, with Edinburgh’s ill-discipline at crucial stages being the key feature of the match.
Marnus van der Merwe, Josh Macleod and Ioan Nicholas grabbed Scarlets’ tries, with Ioan Lloyd kicking three conversions and three penalties.
Sam Skinner, Patrick Harrison, Harri Morris and Ben Healy crossed for Edinburgh, with the latter adding two conversions.
A penalty from Lloyd gave Scarlets a sixth-minute lead, one of five infringements from the Scots in the opening 13 minutes.
This led to a lecture from Italian referee Andrea Piardi and it came as no surprise the next score came via another penalty when Lloyd extended the advantage with a straightforward kick.
The two penalties were the only scores of a disjointed first quarter with neither side unable to provide any threat to the try line.
Both sets of halfbacks were content to hoist the ball skywards until Edinburgh produced the first move of note to cross the line.
Scrumhalf Ali Price touched down but TMO replays showed an earlier forward pass so the score was ruled out.
The referee’s patience with the visitors was finally exhausted with Scottish squad hooker Harrison yellow-carded for persistent team infringements and Scarlets capitalised immediately when Van der Merwe finished off a driving line-out.
It was the home side’s turn to lose a player to the sin-bin with Vaea Fifita sent there for a high tackle and this allowed Edinburgh onto the scoresheet with a try from Skinner following a line-out drive.
Fifita was still absent when the Scots repeated the dose with Harrison forcing his way over to leave his side trailing 13-12 at the interval.
Three minutes after the restart, Scarlets lost Max Douglas to a leg injury but they overcame this setback with Macleod finishing off a line-out drive.
The crowd badly needed some entertainment and they got it when a well-rehearsed short penalty created space for Nicholas to score.
Edinburgh staged a late rally to score tries from Healy and Morris but a late penalty from Lloyd sealed victory.
The scorers
For the Scarlets
Tries: Van der Merwe, Macleod, Nicholas
Cons: Lloyd 3
Pens: Lloyd 3
For Edinburgh
Tries: Skinner, Harrison, Healy, Carmichael
Cons: Healy 2
Yellow cards: Paddy Harrison (Edinburgh, 23), Vaea Fifita (Scarlets, 30)
Teams
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Jac Davies, 13 Macs Page, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Vaea Fifita, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Archer Holz, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Gabe Hawley, 19 Jac Price, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Jarrod Taylor
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Harry Paterson, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Lewis Wells, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ali Price, 8 Tom Dodd, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Sam Skinner (captain), 4 Glen Young, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Rob Carmichael, 20 Tom Currie, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Aaron Parry (Wales)
TMO: Colin Stanley (Ireland)
