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Scarlets rally to secure first win of season after beating Cardiff
The Scarlets put their South African woes from the opening two rounds of the BKT United Rugby Championship well and truly behind them as they beat Cardiff 31-25 for their first win of the season at Parc Y Scarlets.
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Not only that, they scored four tries to earn a bonus point and won the bragging rights from a highly entertaining Welsh regional derby against a Cardiff side that had beaten them on their own patch last season.
Wales World Cup scrum-half Gareth Davies, who was leading his home region for the first time in his illustrious career, was the star of the game as he scored one try and made another in a second-half performance from the home side that turned the game on its head.
Cardiff drew first blood with a fourth-minute try from scrum-half Ellis Bevan that had its origins in a lovely break from Wales U20 full-back Cameron Winnett. Ellis’s half-back partner Tinus De Beer added the extras.
The hosts hit back quickly when centre Eddie James got Scarlets over the gain-line to allow new second row recruit Alex Craig to power over from short range for a try that Ioan Lloyd improved.
Cardiff held the upper hand physically, with their front-row annihilating the Scarlets scrum to begin with, and referee Adam Jones was forced to show a yellow card to home loosehead Kemsley Mathias for collapsing the scrum.
Cardiff made the most of their numerical advantage when discarded Wales prop Rhys Carre showed his strength to force his way over the line for a try.
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De Beer added the extra two points and the visitors looked in complete control. But then Scarlets managed to find a way to break out of their own half and, completely against the run of play, Johnny McNicholl sliced through to notch his 45th URC try.
Lloyd’s touchline conversion meant it all was all-square at 14-14 at the break. Cardiff’s forward dominance fell away in the second half and that allowed Davies to take centre stage, scoring one and making another for number eight Vaea Fifita with a great blindside break from a scrum.
Theo Cabango’s 70 metre solo effort four minutes from time made it an interesting final few minutes, especially when the home side went down to 14 minute with Teddy Leatherbarrow being sent to the sin-bin for a petulant shoulder charge, but it was Scarlets who earned the bragging rights as they picked up their first win of the season.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments