Head coach Dwayne Peel reflected on Scarlets’ opening BKT United Rugby Championship loss of the season, admitting Munster’s power game played a huge part in their 34-21 victory.
The Irish province, under new coach Clayton McMillan, were outstanding at Parc y Scarlets, dominating territory and possession for long periods. Scarlets did produce a late rearguard with three second-half tries, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Munster taking all five points.
“We are obviously disappointed, we didn’t get much territory or possession in that first half. Munster won the physical battle, they finished their chances well, their kicking game put us under pressure and we weren’t able to get a foothold in the game,” said Peel.
“We had a couple of chances before half-time, ball close to their line, a couple of line-outs, but we weren’t ruthless enough. At half-time we knew we had to get back into the game quickly, what killed us was that try just after half-time; we were chasing the game after that.”
Peel added: “We had plenty of endeavour, we played for the 80 and scored some nice tries, but I thought Munster were very good and deserved the win. We have another tough task next week going to Galway, which will be a very similar game. We have a lot of work to do, but it’s the first game of the season, we will work hard and make sure we are going to Connacht in good shape.”
Asked about the pre-match march and demonstration by the Scarlets supporters against the proposed plans by the Welsh Rugby Union, Peel added: “The support of our fans has always been excellent. We are disappointed we couldn’t get the win for them, but we will keep striving and there’s another big game in a couple of weeks out here against the Stormers so hopefully we will have the same support.”
Scarlets were forced into a late reshuffle with prop Kemsley Mathias and lock Sam Lousi withdrawn before kick-off.
“Both had knocks in the week, Kemsley was withdrawn before the warm-up and Sam wasn’t quite right during the warm-up. To be fair to Max Douglas, he put in a big shift, he has only just joined us in terms of team training so that was a huge effort from him.
“Obviously, we missed the physicality of Marnus and Eli (Ryan Elias), but I thought Harry Thomas was another who put in a big shift on his first URC start. He is a tough cookie, a Llanelli lad, who can probably walk home from here, his club is New Dock Stars, a stone’s throw away.
“His arrows were good and he worked really hard. The step up from the level he has been playing is huge, but he did well, he can be proud of that performance. It is a proud moment for him and his family to be putting in a performance like that at this level at 20 years old. I am sure there are many more to come from him.”