Nigel Davies believes Saturday’s thrilling late victory over Benetton can be the trigger to drive forward the Scarlets’ campaign.
Director of Rugby Davies also paid tribute to the nerve of fly-half Sam Costelow, who nailed the last-gasp penalty which secured maximum points in a 27-26 win for the West Walians.
“It was a huge kick in fairness,” he said. “For him to step up, I could see by his whole demeanour, the time he took, the concentration and the focus on his face, I thought, yeah, he’s going to nail this and what a great kick.
“The win was much needed,” he admitted. “After one victory from three games we’re not getting carried away and there’s still a lot of work to do, but I’ve seen enough in the first three games to suggest that we can really drive things forward here.”
Reflecting on the match Davies added: “We gave ourselves a lot to do in that first half. We spoke about doing what we did in the second half for the first half, but we just fed their game really. We had three kicks that went straight off to give them line-out opportunities. We kicked the ball in the air, didn’t go 10, gave them a penalty. Those were key moments.”
Asked about the impact of Fletcher Anderson and Gareth Davies for the second half, Davies added: “They are quality players and it’s great to have Fletcher back, it just gives us a different dimension. And it’s not just linear in terms of, we’ve got Fletcher, he comes on. The work he does actually allows other players to free up a little bit as well, so it was a massive impact and I thought Gareth was superb.
“He’s been struggling with having to sit in the wings a little bit because he’s such a competitor, but I think he’s getting used to actually contributing in different ways to what he’s done in the past and he came on and made a big difference.”
It also proved a night to remember for Scarlets’ razor-sharp back three, with Blair Murray picking up the player-of-the-match award following a dazzling individual display, while Macs Page produced a spectacular assist for one of Ellis Mee’s two tries.
Davies continued: “One of the ways we want to play is to create an environment where we get these guys on the ball. Because of the error in our game, we couldn’t do that in the first half, but in the second half we did.
“I think our highlights reel is quite spectacular after three games, but we need to be more consistent in how we deliver that.”
The Scarlets change competitions next week with Newcastle Red Bulls at the Parc for the opening round of the EPCR Challenge Cup
“That’s going to be some game, isn’t it?” added Davies. “With the way Newcastle are trying to play as well, that’s going to be an entertaining match. So yeah, I’m looking forward to that.
“We’re in two comps and we want to do well in both, so Europe’s a great opportunity for us and we’re going after it. We should also hopefully have Taine back available for us, so that’s great. We’re adding quality now to the team off the back of a win, so that certainly helps.
Davies also paid tribute to the support at Parc y Scarlets.
“That’s the important bit really,” he said. “They’ve been frustrated understandably, and we needed to show them that we really do care about them and the support they give us is brilliant.
“Hopefully, they can come back next week and support us again. It really means a lot and I thought they were great today. They stayed with us in that first half when we weren’t really on top of things. And then, in fairness to the players, they gave them something to shout about and to sing about in the second half. So, you know, it’s hopefully the start of where we start to drive forward now.”