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Eduan Swart scores last-minute try to earn Scarlets victory over Benetton
By PA
Replacement hooker Eduan Swart scored a last-minute try to rejuvenate Scarlets’ season with only their third win of their league campaign – a 16-13 comeback victory over Benetton.
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Moments before, Steff Evans had been held up over the line but Swart made no mistake when his team-mates shunted him over from a driving maul.
Sam Costelow converted to add to his three penalties.
Onisi Ratave scored Benetton’s try, with Jacob Umaga succeeding with two penalties and a conversion.
Costelow and Umaga exchanged early penalties and the Italians should have gone ahead with another kickable penalty but they chose an attacking line-out and it proved to be the wrong call.
However Benetton were not to be denied for long as they sped the ball wide for the powerful Ratave to brush off a weak tackle from Ioan Lloyd to cross, with Umaga converting from the touchline before adding a penalty.
The visitors soon threatened again when former Bristol player Andy Uren broke from a scrum and it took an excellent tackle from Tom Rogers to deprive Ratave of a second try.
In the tricky wind, a 22-metre penalty attempt from Costelow rebounded back off a post but that was the precursor for Scarlets to build up their first sustained period of pressure.
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Aided by a malfunctioning Italian line-out, the home side camped in the opposition 22 but handling errors at critical times prevented them from capitalising and they trailed 13-3 at the interval.
Umaga booted the restart straight into touch and a penalty at the resulting scrum gave Scarlets an early platform in the second half.
However, the hosts continued to infringe at the breakdown so frequent penalties awarded against them prevented any momentum.
Scarlets replaced their skipper Gareth Davies with Kieran Hardy and it paid dividends when the replacement was high tackled for Costelow to kick a penalty, the first of two in quick succession.
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The home side suffered a blow when number 8 Vaea Fifita was helped off with a leg injury but they continued to dominate in terms of territory and possession.
Lock Alex Craig and centre Johnny Williams were at the forefront of their efforts and they were rewarded when Swart finished off a driving maul with the last play of the game.
