Nigel Davies reflected on Scarlets’ 24-19 defeat to Edinburgh and insisted the young players in the squad will have learned a huge amount from the setback
Scarlets headed to the Scottish capital with a young, talented back division that included 18-year-old fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, two 21-year-olds in centre Macs Page and full-back Jac Davies and 23-year-old scrum-half Archie Hughes. Academy back Ioan Jones also came off the bench to make his URC debut in the second half.
Speaking to the media In the wake of the defeat Scarlets Interim Director of Rugby said: “There are a lot of players we are bringing in, that we are blooding, and they are getting the experience and that is a key thing. You have got to give them that experience.
“A lot of the values we have set recently I saw again. As I said, there were a lot of youngsters out there and they will learn from this – I am really positive about that.”
Scarlets surged into a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from centre Joe Roberts and second row Sam Lousi, but a quickfire double at the start of the second period, followed by a 70th minute opportunist score by full-back Harry Paterson, secured the win for the Scots.
Davies added: “I was pleased with our start and the way we went about our business. We were a little bit inaccurate in the first half and in the second half in fairness to Edinburgh, in all the transitions they came out on top, which was a disappointment for me.
“They played some great rugby in the second half and we couldn’t contain them and a lot of that came from transitions when we were poor in the air and when the ball was spilled they were sharper than us.
“We had opportunities, but we just weren’t clinical enough.
“We were competitive and if a few decisions had gone our way it might have been different. We have come away to Edinburgh, which is never easy, and have come away with a bonus point, which is something. We have got to take out those positives from the game.”
Scarlets are in next in action on Friday, March 13 when they take on Connacht in Galway in the rescheduled round two fixture, which was postponed in October.