Nigel Davies praised the character of his Scarlets players after they fought back to claim a 35-35 draw in an end-of-season thriller against the Dragons at Parc y Scarlets.
Scarlets overcame two yellow cards in the final quarter to secure three match points, courtesy of a late try by Macs Page and touchline conversion from Joe Hawkins.
“The character was fantastic, ever since I have been here I haven’t been able to fault the character of these players,” said the Interim Director of Rugby, speaking to the media after the match.
“That character the guys have shown will stand them in good stead when we start the new season.”
He added: “We know there are a few things we need to do moving forward for next year and the main one is making sure our discipline is where it needs to be.
“The boys are fighting and competing hard, but we have to be a bit smarter. A lot of penalties have come from our scrum as well, so strengthening that has to be a priority for us.”
Davies also praised the outstanding individual display from Taine Plumtree, who scored two tries and had crucial assists for two others for fellow back-rowers Josh Macleod and Jarrod Taylor.
“He was a big factor in us staying in the game. He is a brilliant player and has all the ability,” added Davies.
“For that opening try, to have a back-rower to have the skillset to do that and the nous to understand what needs to happen there is fantastic. He had a massive part to play in that game. Since I have been he has played fantastically well and is someone you want in your team.”
Reflecting on the season as a whole, Davies added: “The team has got character and quality, but there are too many results we have fallen on the wrong side of and that’s for a number of reasons.
“If I was going to pick two things, it would be our discipline and our scrum, so we need to sort those two things out moving forward. If we just do those two things, some of those results will start to come.
“We have an exciting backline that is only going to grow and get better and we have some talented players up front as well. We played a couple of young props today, Josh Morse is one not just for the future but for the present and I thought the two brothers (Sam and Harri O’Connor) who came on, brought a real energy. I was pleased with how our front row went today.
“We know we need to bolster and make sure we have a front five that will give us an opportunity to stay in games, but I think there is a lot of positive stuff here moving forward.”