Nigel Davies spoke to the South African media after Saturday’s rollercoaster BKT URC try fest with the Stormers, insisting his players will have gained a huge amount of confidence and belief from their performance.
Despite being written off before the match in Cape Town, Scarlets pushed the Stormers all the way, scoring six tries and were unfortunate not to come away with more than one try bonus point.
Davies said: “First of all, congratulations to the Stormers for winning what was a fantastic contest. We came here with an intent to score tries and play rugby. It has been our focus all season and we knew we were coming to a very difficult place to play and we had to be on top of our game.
“What we have been working on mentally, physically and skill-wise is to execute under high pressure and a higher intensity so we can compete longer against the top teams and I firmly believe we have turned the corner there. There is a belief within the squad that they can do that and the boys did that today.
“I was delighted for them for the respect they would have gained from a lot of people because of that performance and also the confidence that will grow within the group as well.
“I am delighted with that performance and absolutely disappointed because we could have potentially won it. There were a couple of key moments that didn’t go our way. We also put a bit of pressure on ourselves with our inaccuracies – something we have to look at, but it was a match that could have gone either way in the end.”
Davies added: “This is a fabulous place to play and a lot of my players would have gained a huge amount. Look at our 10, Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, who is just 18 years old, that experience will be invaluable to him.
“We had to make a few changes because of international calls, but I was confident with the depth in the squad and a lot of these boys have been unlucky not to play earlier. I was delighted with the way they stepped up.
“You can’t come here and admire the way the Stormers play, you have got to come here and challenge them and dare to be great. That was the message. We have got to come here and we have got to go after them, with and without the ball. I thought we did that for long periods and it gave us a great opportunity into the game
“Even at half-time when we were under the pump a bit, we still spoke about being positive, we were creating chances and the guys came out and played some great rugby. I was extremely proud of what our players were able to produce today, albeit disappointed that there wasn’t more in it for us. But we move on positively to the next challenge, which is going to be tough again (against the Bulls in Pretoria).”
Davies also paid tribute to the travelling Scarlets supporters who made themselves heard amongst a 16,000-plus crowd at the DHL Stadium.
“A huge mention to them,” he said. “Our supporters love their trip to South Africa, where rugby is everything. They are huge rugby nuts as well and it was great to see them support the boys, it really does make a difference.”