Scarlets v Edinburgh: Five takeaways as snubbed Wales duo ‘send message’ to Warren Gatland while South African stars with ‘determined showing’
Scarlets fly-half Ioan Lloyd.
Following a 30-24 win for Scarlets over Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship (URC), here’s our five takeaways from Saturday’s game at Parc y Scarlets.
The top line
Scarlets survived a late Edinburgh fightback as they picked up another valuable four points in the URC standings to keep them very much in the play-off picture.
Tries from Marnus van der Merwe, Josh Macleod and Ioan Nicholas were added to by a faultless kicking display from Ioan Lloyd, who nailed 15 points off the tee.
This win is Scarlets’ fifth of the campaign and equals the season tally of 2023/24 which is an indicator of the progress they are making under boss Dwayne Peel.
For Edinburgh they only clicked into gear late on but fly home with two points thanks to tries from Sam Skinner, Patrick Harrison, Ben Healy and Harri Morris.
Backline duo send message to Warren Gatland
Both Lloyd and Johnny Williams were standouts for Scarlets in this impressive win as the fly-half and inside centre sent a message to Wales head coach Gatland.
Left out of Gatland’s squad for the Six Nations, they were wonderful in their specialties as Lloyd ran, distributed and kicked well both in play and from the tee. Meanwhile, Williams ran strongly all day was named Player of the Match after a stellar showing alongside midfield partner Macs Page and full-back Nicholas.
Lloyd in particular should be pressing hard for a call-up should injury or form be an issue for Wales in the fly-half shirt as Gatland must have noted his showing.
Marnus van der Merwe leads from the front
Speaking of impressive performances and former Cheetahs hooker Van der Merwe epitomised the Scarlets’ forward pack’s showing for large parts of the game with a determined shift at the coalface. He scored one try and came close to a second at the back of the maul as he deserves plenty of plaudits for this showing.
Such was his form and influence on the game, the South African hooker ended up playing a full 80 minutes as Peel clearly realised the value in keeping him on.
Edinburgh scrum keeps them in the fight
While the Scottish capital outfit came off second best in most departments, they held the upper hand in the set-piece battle which kept them in the match for long periods.
This proved especially handy during the latter stages when they were chasing the game and it was not surprising that they eventually had the bulk of the possession (56%) and territory (57%).
Edinburgh’s forwards made a solid impact in the scrums with the starting front-row of props Boan Venter and Paul Hill as well as hooker Harrison leading the way, but they upped the ante in that department as the match progressed and dominated the set-piece in the latter stages.
This was largely due to the efforts of their back-up front-row of props Javan Sebastian and Robin Hislop and Harri Morris (hooker), who scored their last try when they were chasing the game.
Their scrum dominance secured them some crucial penalties with which they kicked for territory but although they were soon in favourable positions and received some reward – in the form of tries – it was not enough to haul in the Scarlets.
Too little too late for Edinburgh
The visitors came alive during the game’s closing stages when – with the home side holding a 27-12 lead – they launched a brave fightback and narrowed the gap to three points after crossing for two tries in quick succession.
The visitors were first rewarded in the 71st minute when, after winning a scrum penalty, they kicked for touch and took the ball wide with their backs and that gamble paid off when Healy crossed for his five-pointer.
With time running out on the clock, Sean Everitt’s troops continued to attack and they launched a driving maul from a lineout deep inside Scarlets territory from which Morris barged over.
Although Healy failed with the conversion attempt, Edinburgh were back in the game but from the restart they conceded a breakdown penalty. The Scarlets initially went in search of a bonus point and kicked for touch but after initially setting up a lineout close to Edinburgh’s try-line, the visitors soon strayed offside on defence and the hosts clinched the result with a late penalty.
