Helzbach is Back! Scarlets’ winning run continues against warriors
by Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies
Last weekend it was a bonus point win against the current European Champions, this week, the Scarlets were on their travels as they aimed to keep the momentum going in Scotland.
Glasgow Warriors were hoping to begin a new era in their new Scotstoun Stadium with a win, but the visiting Welsh men had other ideas, despite their recent record against our Scottish neighbours.
It was the Scarlets who were offered the first points of the game, with just over a minute on the clock as the Scots were penalised, but unfortunately Outside Half Rhys Priestland was wide with his attempt.
Minutes later Matthew Rees was penalised for taking out a player off the ball and unlike his counterpart, Ruaridh Jackson made no mistake in giving the Warriors a 3 point to 0 lead.
The home team continued strongly, keeping the ball in hand resulting in a number of penalties going against the Scarlets in the breakdown, offering the Warriors good field position.
Glasgow were penalised at the scrum deep in the Scarlets 22, but Rhys Priestland’s attempt to clear the danger didn’t find touch and the Scarlets soon faced a strong Warriors attack. Fortunately the blue Scottish wave was met by a solid Scarlets defence.
Jackson was offered the opportunity to increase the home team’s lead after quarter of an hour’s play but he too saw his kick sail wide of the posts.
When the visitors finally managed to get their hands on the ball, they looked dangerous with passes going to hand and the hard yards being made. Unfortunately silly mistakes began to creep into the play.
Patient play saw the Scarlets inch ever closer to the try line and despite an attempted break away try from the home team, Aaron Shingler gratefully accepted a pass from George North to stretch over the try line to ground the ball for the first try.
Priestland was again wide with his conversion attempt, but the Scarlets were in the lead, 5 point to 3.
Unfortunately, try scoring Shingler wasn’t on the field for long as he was sin binned for a dubious high tackle along with the number of penalties that the Scarlets had conceded.
The kicking curse struck again as Jackson missed with a penalty that would have seen the home team go into the lead once more and minutes later Rhys Priestland failed to increase the Scarlets’ lead.
The Scarlets’ defence was stretched once more as Glasgow, taking advantage of their extra man, continued keeping ball in hand, working through the phases, only to see wing Andy Fenby chase Jon Davies’ hoof downfield and squeeze in in the corner, scoring the visitor’s second try.
As had become the story of the night, Priestland was unable to convert the try to add to a miserable night for the kickers, but with two tries scored, the Scarlets headed towards half time 10 points to 3 ahead.
Glasgow, however, did have the final score of the half as Jackson finally broke the trend and kicked a penalty to give a half time score of 10 points to 6. The cheer of the crowd could have either been for the score or the fact that a kick was finally successful!!
The second half started very much like the first, with Glasgow keeping most of the possession. The Scarlets did have the opportunity at times to show some of the exciting, running rugby that they are famous for, with the backs finding the gaps in the Warriors’ defence.
Rhys Priestland finally found his kicking boots to increase the Scarlets lead to seven points, 13 point to 6 as he slotted his first penalty of the night through the posts. Unfortunately, minutes later, he wasn’t able to repeat the success!!
With added confidence, the Scarlets continued their attack, with both forwards and backs combining, though most of the play was in their own half.
Silence fell on Scotstoun as Glasgow changed their kicker and replacement Duncan Weir attempted to close the gap in the score. Admittedly, he came close, but saw his kick hit the post.
Wing George North came close to scoring the Scarlets’ third try but he was unable to get his pass in before being bundled into touch.
Minutes later, it was indeed Mr North who was at the end of a string of passes to dive over the line to give the visitors an 18 points to 6 advantage with just over 20 minutes left to play.
With the standard of kicking basically poor all night, it was no surprise that Rhys Priestland was again off target with his conversion.
The home team gave it their all in the last quarter, attempting to secure their first victory. However, the Scarlets defence remained firm as the Scots were practically camped on the visitor’s try line. Scrums, rucks and mauls were successfully defended and Scrum Half Tavis Knoyle kicked to relieve the pressure slightly.
The Warriors continued their attack moving the ball among the forwards before spreading to the backs, but strong Scarlets defence saw them float backwards before being penalised, offering Priestland a chance to kick for a safer field position, it was just a shame that the ball had seemingly been replaced with a bar of soap!!
Fortunately, in comparison to last season, the Scarlets, through Rhys Priestland, were able to control the game and show how good they really can be at holding on to a lead rather than letting a should-have-won game slip through their fingers.
As the clocked ticked down, replacement Duncan Weir was able to break through the Scarlets’ defence but the touch line proved to be an extra defender for the Scarlets on more than one occasion!
With just 5 minutes left on the clock, Scrum Half Chris Cusiter finally rewarded the home crowd and his fellow team mates for all their hard work as he crossed the whitewash. Weir added the conversion to bring the score to within a nail-biting 5 points – 13 points to 18.
It was obvious that the home team still believed that they could sneak either a draw or a win, but the Scarlets were determined to hold on to their winning margin and tackled for their lives to record an important away victory that sees them sitting right at the top of the RaboDirect Pro 12 table.
Next weekend the Scarlets are once again on their travels as they cross the Irish sea to take on a Connacht team that has caused them problems in the past, before the biggie………Friday September 21st 2012……let the Osprey slaying begin!!!
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