Dwayne urges Scarlets to create a slice of history

Head coach Dwayne Peel has urged his players to create a slice of history on South African soil over the next two weekends.

For the Scarlets, the ‘Race to the Eight’ in the BKT United Rugby Championship culminates in the Rainbow Nation with games against the Emirates Lions and Hollywoodbets Sharks to finish the regular season.

The West Walians currently sit in seventh in a congested league ladder and a 30-man squad have travelled to Johannesburg full of confidence following their epic victory over leaders Leinster last time out.

The Scarlets are well aware of the scale of the challenge that awaits, having never won in South Africa since the ‘big four’ joined the party four years ago.

But the gauntlet has been thrown down to the players to change that narrative – starting at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday (2pm UK time).

“It is a big challenge ahead, a massive game on Sunday in Joburg, but we are in a good spot and looking forward to getting into it,” said Dwayne.

“We have spoken about competing as a squad this season and we are in the play-offs with two rounds to go. But it is about not just staying there, we want to push up the league, not just survive. Our destiny is in our hands and we will approach it that way.

“We hadn’t beaten Leinster since 2018 and now we have something else to chase. We haven’t won in South Africa since the four main franchises (Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions) have been introduced, so to get through (to the play-offs) we are going to have to create another bit of history.”

Asked about the difficulty of playing at altitude against the Lions, Dwayne added: “It is a factor – you have to manage it and get over it, but it is part and parcel of the challenge. It is not something we will be overly focused on.

“We decided to do a lot of our prep at home and then travelled later with it being a Sunday game. The Lions are a team who want to play expansive rugby, want to throw the ball around, we need to match that, we to control that, it is going to be an awesome challenge, but we are approaching it with positivity.

“There is a lot at stake, we weren’t in this position last year; sometimes the season fizzles out at this stage, but we are right in there, that in itself raises the intensity among the group.

“There was disappointment after Ulster and Stormers when we lost two tight games, but we have been able to build momentum from the Ospreys home game and the Leinster win was a real shot in the arm for a lot of players.

“Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, we have a fairly healthy squad and everyone is pushing themselves on and vying for that starting spot.”

So how many points does Dwayne think the Scarlets need from these next two games to finish in the top eight?

“You can look at all the permutations and a lot of teams around us are playing each other. For us, it is just important we keep picking up points because sides are going to be taking points off each other,” he added.

“We do have the benefit of playing on Sunday after everyone has played, but we appreciate how tough a place it is to go and win.”