Following the Scarlets’ 32-19 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash.
Top line
The Scarlets kept their hopes of making the URC play-offs with an emphatic bonus point victory over the Lions, running in four tries.
In the week that he was overlooked by the British and Irish Lions coaching team, full-back Blair Murray ran in two tries in a starring display, with Taine Plumtree and Johnny Williams adding to the hosts’ woes.
Sam Costelow nailed a lovely drop goal in the first half, adding a second penalty and three conversions in a commanding showing from the fly-half.
Richard Kriel’s second-half brace made the scoreline look a bit more respectable after scrum-half Nico Steyn crossed for a try in the first half.
Scarlets’ dominance
What laid the platform for the Scarlets’ victory was their dominance at the breakdown, with Gareth Davies, Costelow and Archie Hughes given an armchair ride from the work done up front.
The likes of Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Josh Macleod, Plumtree, Marnus van der Merwe and co all deserve their plaudits as they not only provided lightning-quick ball but also made life hell for the Lions’ attack.
This had a domino effect for the outside backs with man of the match Murray and centre Joe Roberts benefiting hugely as they picked the perfect angles to cut open the Jacque Fourie-coached defence, making three and two linebreaks respectively.
The Lions did have success when they got the ball to Kriel in particular, but with Henco van Wyk withdrawing from the match day squad through illness, the hosts lacked clear direction on both sides of the ball in the wider channels.
Still, it was a dominant performance from the Welsh outfit, with the scoreline frankly flattering the hosts who bossed the breakdown, showed innovation at lineout time and in attack and barely looked tested despite Lousi and Dan Davis visiting the sin bin.
Lions’ failure
After winning their opening five games of the season, the Lions had stumbled through the rest of the URC season, winning just twice more. It meant that ahead of Sunday’s meeting with the Scarlets, their play-off race had already been run.
They will now have to brush themselves off and get back up for another match where they are playing for nothing more than pride after Benetton’s 33-7 victory over Glasgow Warriors this weekend put the final nail in their coffin.
Of the four South African teams, the Lions’ depth is far more shallow and they reportedly have the smallest player budget, but heads should still roll after the wheels well and truly came off this season. Sure, they have had injuries in key positions, but that cannot be an excuse as the same is true for every team in the competition.
Next season’s task will be no easier with star men like Edwill van der Merwe and Marius Louw heading to pastures new, with the club seemingly backing the academy production line to fill the voids they leave.
All is not well in Johannesburg if mid-season departee Sanele Nohamba’s comments are anything to go by. The 2024 URC MVP was repeatedly overlooked in the match day squad earlier in the campaign following the passing of his father.
When he pressed for answers as to why he was not being selected, he was not given a clear reason. “I tried, but there were no straight answers. There was no point asking every week with no straight answers,” he said.
While the Bulls and Sharks have sealed home play-off matches, the Stormers are in a strong position to claim a place in the knockouts, heading into the final weekend of the regular season in fifth position. But for the Lions, a bottom-half of the table spot beckons.
Scarlets stay in the race
While the Lions stumble out of the race, the Scarlets sprint towards the finish line and keep their hopes of making the play-offs alive with their fourth win on the bounce, the first time they have done so since February 2023.
It was a historic one for Dwayne Peel’s side as they clinched their first-ever victory at the famous Ellis Park stadium, having fallen to a 32-15 defeat back in 2022, and their maiden win in South Africa since the introduction of the four southern hemisphere teams.
The Welsh outfit needed, at the very least, one win from their two matches in South Africa and they now head to Durban to face the Sharks having already met that requirement.
Considering the Sharks’ growing injury list and the fact that they have already booked their place in the play-offs, the Scarlets will fancy their chances of completing the regular season with five straight wins.
Test watch
Full-back Murray was a clear standout for Wales during their disappointing Six Nations campaign, along with captain Jac Morgan, and while he was overlooked for the British and Irish Lions squad, he may well be on the standby list.
He continued his rich vein of form, following his starring role in the victory over Leinster last time out, as he took his two opportunities well to score. Murray topped the running metres for the Scarlets (55) while he also made three line breaks and beat six defenders.
He controlled the backfield well, too. While Andy Farrell is not short on options in the British and Irish Lions back three, highlighted by the quality that was overlooked, Murray would be a solid replacement choice in the event of injury with his ability to switch between wing and full-back seamlessly.
Meanwhile, Plumtree is positioning himself well to earn a recall to the Wales squad in July to face Eddie Jones’ Japan. He put in a man of the match shift against Leinster last time out in the URC and was well in the running for the award again on Sunday as his back-row combination with Vaea Fifita and Macleod troubled the Lions on both sides of the ball throughout the game.
He grabbed a try for good measure and will be keen to back up that performance when he goes up against his father’s team next week. On the other side of the park, Quan Horn put in a tidy shift at full-back that will do his hopes of adding to his single Springboks cap no harm while Ruan Venter shone in the second row for the Lions as he aims to do the same.
Legendary Springboks forward Schalk Burger aptly likened JC Pretorius to Kwagga Smith as the flanker was lively with the ball in hand and racked up a respectable tackle count. He was not invited to Rassie Erasmus’ alignment camps and will have one final opportunity to change the Bok coach’s mind next weekend against the Ospreys.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/lions-v-scarlets-five-takeaways-as-heads-should-roll-after-urc-failure-while-welsh-club-keep-play-off-hopes-alive
