Llanelli Scarlets 31, Glasgow Warriors 17

Glasgow suffered heavily at Stradey Park this evening. Only a late rally against Llanelli, with tries by John Barclay and Colin Shaw, prevented a humiliation in a Mangers League match in which the home team led 31-3 doing into the last quarter.

Llanelli did the damage with three tries early in the second half while Donnie Macfadyen was in the sin-bin. From a tenuous interval lead of 5-3 the Scarlets were home and safe 28 points clear.

Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: “With the scoreline so close at half-time, it was a very disappointing final result. To lose Al Kellock when he took a knock to his jaw was bad but the main turning point was, of course, when Donnie went into the sin-bin, and we lost three tries in that period. You just can’t compete with 14 men against a side the calibre of Llanelli. They played very well and are definitely one of the top three teams in the league.

“I thought John Beattie, Francisco Leonelli and Andy Newman performed particularly well, and all of our substitutes made a noticeable impact, particularly with our two tries. We’re at the stage of still finding out what our best team is and these guys all making a good impression when they came onto the pitch is actually a pretty positive thing for our future as we can work on the combination of players and move forward.

“It’s another tough game next, against Munster, but it’s at home. So hopefully the Hughenden crowd will help spur us on to our first victory of the season.”

Glasgow were fortunate to be so close at half-time. Throughout the first half – and, indeed, throughout the contest – they struggled for possession of quality and quantity.

It was typical of the first half that Llanelli’s initial 10 minutes of pressure yielded nothing but a penalty miss by Stephen Jones. But the stand-off made amends with a searing break as he stepped inside Alastair Kellock to lay on a try for Darren Daniel, the first of three by the wing. Jones missed the conversion from well out on the right.

Glasgow lost their captain, Kellock, in that lead-up, but when Kevin Tkachuk, John Beattie, and Andrew Wilson exploited loose ball it was enough from the visitors to cut the margin to two points with a Francisco Leonelli drop goal. Nothing else was on, and the full back made the best of what was left to him.

Llanelli had the chance to extend the lead before half-time, when Dan Turner was penalised for obstruction close to his own goal-line. But Inoke Afeaki messed up that chance by being penalised for stamping. He was fortunate it was not a yellow card.

Andy Henderson and Thom Evans threatened for Glasgow early in the second half, the centre latching on to loose ball inside his own half for the wing to follow up. But Nathan Thomas countered, and Dwayne Peel was held close to the Glasgow line. It was there that Macfadyen was sin-binned, and though Glasgow turned the resultant penalty scrum in front of their posts it was to no avail. The ensuing Glasgow scrummage was loose, and Peel pounced for a try that Jones converted.

From the kick-off, off a turnover, Peel ran back almost to the Glasgow line for Gavin Evans to score, and when Daniel chased his own kick for his second try Llanelli had a bonus. Jones converted both.

Turn-over ball let Daniel in for his third for Llanelli to lead 31-3 after 63 minutes, and it was only then that Glasgow found the way to score tries. Beattie gathered loose ball for Barclay’s try, and Hefin O’Hare’s break – a rare occasion when Glasgow punctured Llanelli’s defence – Shaw was driven over by Stevie Swindall. Dan Parks converted both tries.

Scorers:
Llanelli Scarlets:
Tries:
D Daniels 3, D Peel, G Evans
Cons:
S Jones 3
GLASGOW WARRIORS
Tries:
J Barclay, C Shaw
Drops:
F Leonelli Morey
Cons:
D Parks 2

This article was posted on 8-Sep-2006, 22:22 by Hugh Barrow.