Whilst the score suggests a feast of rugby, the reality was more of a smattering of microwaved pop tarts. The Scarlets squandering attack after attack with handling errors and misunderstandings, their defence as loose as a set of vindalooed intestines. Connacht's ill discipline cost them dear in the end, being down to 14 men for twenty minutes of the match, most crucially when their prop was sin-binned with minutes to go.
The afternoon started pleasantly enough with a 6,400 crowd basking in Indian Summer Sunshine. With a poor and ill-disicplined start by the home side, Connaucht led by 6-0 in the early stages. A Stephen Jones penalty followed by a Jon Davies try built the hopes of the home crowd, only for the plucky Connacht team to score from virtually the restart. More signficant was the manner of the try conceded however. George North looked all at sea defensively today, often charging up and missing tackles. I was suprised Connacht didn't exploit the weakness of the Scarlet's back three, with Fenby playing out of position, and Lamont having looked somewhat shaky under the high ball last season. The first Connacht sinbinning led to Stephen Jones's delicate chip over the defence backs for a brilliant pick up by Davies, a deft pass to Regan King and the Scarlets led at the interval.
One of the positives of the afternoon was King's attacking form. He broke the line virtually everytime he had the ball, mesmerising the Connacht defence and offloading beautifully in and out of the tackle. Defensively it was a different matter, and certainly so far this season the King/Maule centre pairing looks more robust than the Davies/King one. A loose King pass led to Connacht gaining posession and winger Carr sped upfield to bag his second try. Penalties were exchanged followed by a woeful series of handling and passing errors by the Scarlets which saw four try scoring opportunities go to waste with two passes flying into touch.
A negative of the afternoon for me was Stephen Jones's performance. For my money, Stevo is now the second choice no.10 - Priestland offers so much more in both attack and in his kicking game. Stephen Jones's tactical kicking in particular seems arbitrary: he rarely relieves pressure with long range touchfinders, and he seems to still be playing the Gatland/Edwards keep the ball in play for as long as possible and don't kick it dead. Last season, against Cardiff, Jones's kicking gifted the Blues two tries, and the same thing nearly happened this afternoon which could have led to Carr's fourth try.
Past the sell by date???
Carr's third try once again drew attention to the Scarlet's deficiencies way out wide. Last season's early form and loss of narrow games looked like a lesson the home team hadn't learned - however, when Connacht prop Loughney was sin-binned, Jon Davies levelled to tie the scores at 30 all. Another Connacht penalty gave the Irishmen a 3 point lead with injury time approaching. The home team racked up the pressure, and seven minutes into a frantic Parc-Y-Scarlets injury time, after 5 or 6 phases of forward drives close to the Connacht line, Tavis Knoyle finally spun the ball to the backs for a simple, but well-executed 'let the ball do the work' try for Sean Lamont.
A frustrating performance overall then? Yes. I would say so - far too many errors, wrong decisions and inept tackling, especially out wide. Will better teams punish us for these deficiencies? Yes. I would say so...but then when Munster, Ospreys or Premiership teams win ugly, people say how good they are at grinding out results, etc.. The late, great Carwyn James said rugby is a thinking man's game - think about it. For all the doom merchants on the Scarlet Fever forum think about this - 5 points. Bonus point win. Never say die. Nos da.
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