Soft scores and a struggling set-piece platform were ultimately Edinburgh Rugby’s undoing as they twice clawed back the lead at the Parc y Scarlets tonight (33-17).
The hosts raced into a 13 point advantage in the first quarter with stand-off Aled Thomas kicking two penalties and converting an Adam Warren try before Edinburgh Rugby hit back with a score from Tim Visser and the boot of Greig Laidlaw to go in at the interval just shy of all-square (13-10).
The second-half was won, by and large, by a dominant Scarlets scrum which created two try scoring opportunities.
Lee Jones bounced the side back into the match with a lovely solo score but a Scarlets penalty, again earned at scrum time, and a try ground out by their rumbling pack, was enough to see out the match.
After the early Thomas penalty, Warren, a late pre-match replacement for captain Gareth Maule, was first to cross the whitewash when he ran on to a rebounded charge-down and booted it through before diving on the ball to score.
When Thomas added another penalty one could not help but relfect on the early defecit Edinburgh created in last weekend’s win over Munster and the difficulty imposed by such a scoreline – especially as Scarlets began to show a robust tactical kicking game with low kicks skidding across the slippery surface.
Edinburgh desperately needed to get their hands on the ball, a desire personified by Greig Laidlaw whose quick tap in the Scarlets 22 appeared to inspire a period of Edinburgh pressure.
On two occasions the visitors played through the advantage offered by consecutive penalties until the captain decided enough was enough and sent the third offer through the sticks.
More pressure was applied when a kick deep from stand-off Gregor Hunter was chased superbly by Tim Visser who bundled the defender into touch on the 5m line; his efforts creating the attacking lineout which he ultimately converted into a score back at the same nearside touchline.
Laidlaw’s superb conversion from out wide meant that Edinburgh were right back in the match at the interval.
HALF TIME: Scarlets 13-10 Edinburgh Rugby
After the break it took the Scarlets just five minutes to stretch the lead once more, immense pressure in the scrum earning several penalties from the Edinburgh pack and, ultimately, the opportunities used to register a penalty and two consecutive scores.
Thomas slotted the first penalty before the Scarlets won a crucial scrum battle, against the head, on the half-way line.
The opportunistic Scarlets attack broke the gain line before quick ball from a ruck on the fringes of the Edinburgh 22 offered enough space for Warren to nip around the breakdown and run in his second try.
While their next score was as much a matter of numbers, with inside-centre John Houston sitting in the sin bin, the Scarlets repeatedly opted to scrum and re-scrum a series of consecutive penalties and free kicks conceded by Edinburgh on their 5m line.
Then, as the hosts went on the attack they tried to punch the ball through rather than challenge the everpresent one-man overlap, eventually making the break-through when back-row Richard Pugh got the dot at the bottom of Scarlets heap, though a second successive miss conversion from Thomas offered a glimer of hope (23-10).
In typical fashion, Edinburgh refused to yield and, when back to a full complement, were on the scoreboard and celebrating a superb piece of individual skill from Lee Jones.
The young Borderer lined up and skinned two defenders, one after the other, each time convincing them to check inside before bolting around the outside in close proximity to the touchline on his way to score.
Laidlaw’s assured boot put the visitors within a single score (23-17) once more before Thomas undid their efforts with another penalty kick, again awarded at the set-piece, before converting Rhys Thomas’ short range try at the death.
FINAL SCORE: 33-17
SCARLETS: 15 Dan Newton, 14 Lee Williams, 13 Rhodri Gomer Davies, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Andy Fenby; 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Rhodri Williams: 1 Phil John, 2 Emyr Phillips, 3 Rhys Thomas, 4 Aaron Shingler, 5 Damian Welch, 6 Rob McCusker CAPTAIN, 7 Richie Pugh, 8 Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Peter Edwards, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Dale Ford, 23 Liam Williams
EDINBURGH RUGBY: 15 Jim Thompson; 14 Lee Jones, 13 Matt Scott, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser; 10 Gregor Hunter, 9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN; 1 Kyle Traynor, 2 Steven Lawrie, 3 Shaun Knight, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 5 Sean Cox, 6 David Denton, 7 Roddy Grant, 8 Stuart McInally
Substitutes: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Lewis Niven, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Alan MacDonald, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Tom Brown
Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU)
