With the start of the Six Nations imminent and a record 10 Scarlets players included in the team to face Scotland, including an all-Scarlet front row starting for the first time since 1891, an extremely depleted ‘Scarlets’ faced a strong Sale team in the Anglo Welsh Cup.
Controversy has surrounded the tournament this season. The Anglo Welsh has traditionally put an emphasis on development, with the Scarlets using the opportunity to rest senior players who have played a huge amount of rugby, along with offering a younger coaching team to take charge.
However, the English teams have taken a different approach, fielding strong teams. This season, the Welsh regions have recorded just two victories – and they were against the other two Welsh Regions.
Going forward, there has been talk of an A-league being set up in Wales in an attempt to bridge the gap between the Regions and the Semi Professional teams, as the current format is proving unsuccessful for all concerned.
With 43 senior players unavailable, the Scarlets’ links with the feeder clubs – Carmarthen Quins, Llandovery and Llanelli have proved invaluable with Scarlets’ General Manager, Jon Daniels revealing “Without the support of our feeder clubs and the network of grassroots clubs that support them, this evening’s game would have been the victim of a cancellation due to a lack of eligible players and coaches.”
With a total of twenty players on International duty the team against the Sharks featured 12 players who had made less than five appearances for the Scarlets, together with five debutants.
It was the home side that opened the scoring, taking full advantage of Sale’s errors as they failed to clear their lines before Wing Jac Price pounced on the loose ball for the try. Jack Maynard’s conversion attempt was wide of the mark; however, the Scarlets had opened up an early 5 points to 0 lead.
Strong defensive work from the Scarlets deep in their own 22 held off a strong Sale attack before Wing Josh Charnley squeezed over in the corner. Will Cliff was wide with the conversion attempt as the score drew level – 5 points all.
The dominance of the Sharks against the young Scarlets side was evident as Hooker Rob Webber crossed for their second try of the evening. Scrum Half Cliff added the extras on this occasion to give the visitors the lead for the first time – 5 points to 12.
It was blink, and you miss it for Sale’s third try as Ben Curry scampered over from the re-start. Again, Cliff added the extras to extend the Sale lead to 5 points to 19, before a penalty from Jack Maynard kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Scarlets – 8 points to 19.
A break in midfield brought the small Parc y Scarlets crowd to life as Full Back, Tom Williams raced towards the line, but was tackled just short. Another penalty from the boot of Maynard again narrowed Sale’s lead to 11 points to 19.
Superb hands from the young Scarlets, started off from their own try line saw their bravery rewarded with a try, scored by Scrum Half, Lee Rees. Maynard added the tricky conversion to put the home team back to within a point – 18 points to 19 as the half drew to a close.
The second half began strongly for the visitors, but they were out-shone by the defensive display of the Scarlets who won several battles at the set piece before a break from Will Cliff saw the Scrum Half dive over under the posts. He added the simple conversion to extend the Sharks’ lead to 18 points to 26.
Try number five for the visitors came shortly after with Wing Aaron Reed crossing in the corner. Cliff again added the extras as Sale further extended their lead to 18 points to 33 and it looked like the try scoring was far from over.
Sale were reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the game as replacement Scrum Half, Faf De Klerk, who’d been on the pitch a matter of minutes was shown a yellow card for not being back 10 metres and then shown a second yellow, which subsequently became a red for kicking the ball away!!
Sale added a further try following a sustained amount of pressure from the forwards as Captain, Josh Strauss drove over from close range to claim the try. Cameron Redpath added the simple conversion to push the Sharks further ahead – 18 points to 40.
As the game neared it’s end, play continued in the Scarlets’ 22 with the young Scarlets putting in a huge effort defensively before replacement Curtis Langdon squeezed over for Sale’s seventh try, giving a final score of 18 points to 45.
The Guinness Pro14 returns next week with the Scarlets facing a tough challenge with so many players away on International duty. They travel to Treviso to face Benetton Rugby next week before travelling to Leinster the following week. This is followed by home matches against Ulster and the return Leinster fixture.
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