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Sin-bin central as Scarlets overcome Edinburgh in Llanelli
By PA
Scarlets picked up four valuable United Rugby Championship points by winning a dour encounter against Edinburgh 30-24 in Llanelli.
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Five of the seven tries were scored by forwards from close range, with Edinburgh’s ill-discipline at crucial stages being the key feature of the match.
Marnus van der Merwe, Josh Macleod and Ioan Nicholas grabbed Scarlets’ tries, with Ioan Lloyd kicking three conversions and three penalties.
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Sam Skinner, Patrick Harrison, Harri Morris and Ben Healy crossed for Edinburgh, with the latter adding two conversions.
A penalty from Lloyd gave Scarlets a sixth-minute lead, one of five infringements from the Scots in the opening 13 minutes.
This led to a lecture from Italian referee Andrea Piardi and it came as no surprise the next score came via another penalty when Lloyd extended the advantage with a straightforward kick.
The two penalties were the only scores of a disjointed first quarter with neither side unable to provide any threat to the try line.
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Both sets of half-backs were content to hoist the ball skywards until Edinburgh produced the first move of note to cross the line.
Scrum-half Ali Price touched down but TMO replays showed an earlier forward pass so the score was ruled out.
The referee’s patience with the visitors was finally exhausted with Scottish squad hooker Harrison yellow-carded for persistent team infringements and Scarlets capitalised immediately when van der Merwe finished off a driving line-out.
It was the home side’s turn to lose a player to the sin-bin with Vaea Fifita sent there for a high tackle and this allowed Edinburgh onto the scoresheet with a try from Skinner following a line-out drive.
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Fifita was still absent when the Scots repeated the dose with Harrison forcing his way over to leave his side trailing 13-12 at the interval.
Three minutes after the restart, Scarlets lost Max Douglas to a leg injury but they overcame this setback with Macleod finishing off a line-out drive.
The crowd badly needed some entertainment and they got it when a well-rehearsed short penalty created space for Nicholas to score.
Edinburgh staged a late rally to score tries from Healy and Morris but a late penalty from Lloyd sealed victory.
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