Scarlets profit from Warriors' day off

Will Boyde made the most of his starting berth to open the scoring, despite the Warriors boasting much of the play, with Jonathan Evans also crossing the whitewash within the first 40 minutes.

That was despite Wyn Jones spending ten minutes in the sin-bin, with Glasgow left to rue a bad day at the Pro12 office in a 3-27 defeat.

They failed to cross for a score for the first time since January, with Peter Horne the only man to kick their Scots before the forwards combined for Scarlets’ third and final effort in Llanelli.

Both teams initially struggled to find their feet in a tough opening start, though it was the Warriors holding the most of the early possession and territory without being able to get the scoreboard ticking.

And the lack of a score proved costly, with Scarlets reaping rewards from their very first venture forward.

Hadleigh Parkes was the main architect, breaking the line before unleashing the pace of DTH van der Merwe down the right wing into the heart of the Glasgow 22.

While the Canadian international was smothered out, Steffan Evans picked up the gauntlet, and when he found Boyde after a superb jinking run, there was no stopping the No.8  getting a rare score.

It was a score which seemed to come against the run of play, but it took the visitors until the 30th minute to eventually get points to their name as Horne kicked a penalty after Mark Bennett had missed from 40 metres.

That came after Jones was sent to the sin bin for continually collapsing the maul, but the Warriors couldn’t capitalise on their opponents’ numerical inferiority, going into half-time four points adrift despite enjoying much of the play.

And the Scots came to regret not adding to their tally just 60 seconds into the second half, unable to make the most of the restart, upon which Patchell profited.

He swerved his way through a triumvirate of tackles, then feeding Steffan Evans, himself showing a clean pair of heels to set up namesake Jonathan, dotting down for Scarlets’ second try of the match.

Patchell duly converted, and by the time he added a further three points from the tee, the Scarlets’ lead was standing at 14 points heading into the final 30 minutes.

From there the hosts never looked back, adding to their total just a few minutes later courtesy of a powerful rolling maul saw the forwards come to the fore to add a third try of the evening, not content to just sit on their lead at 24-3.

But the Warriors kept fighting, however, despite Patchell kicking another penalty from close range, though their chances were dealt a further blow when new signing Brian Alainu’uese’s infringement in defence saw him given a yellow card.

But a bonus point was to prove elusive for Scarlets as the game turned scrappy, although the Warriors had to thank Grayson Hart for denying the fourth and final score.

It seemed Parkes had crossed when he touched the post with the clock already in overtime, but some super defence from Hart saw the skipper fall short in Llanelli, though it wasn’t enough to prevent a triumphant victory for Wayne Pivac’s side.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:

Tries:Evans, Boyde 2

Cons: Patchell 3

Pens: Patchell 2

For Glasgow Warriors:

Pen:Horne

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Aled Thomas, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Steff Hughes, 12 Hadleigh Parkes (captain), 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 John Barclay, 7 Will Boyde, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Tom Price, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Wyn Jones.

Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Peter Edwards, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 James Davies, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Gareth Owen.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Peter Horne, 9 Ali Price,8 Lewis Wynne, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru.

Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Matt Fagerson, 20 Langilangi Haupeakui, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Nick Grigg.

Referee: Gary Conway (Ireland)

Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Neil Jones (Wales)

TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)