Dwayne Peel has spoken of the importance of Friday’s EPCR Challenge Cup pool finale against Edinburgh as a springboard for the remainder of the campaign.
Scarlets bow out of the competition they reached the semi-finals of last season, having lost their opening three matches.
However, although the last 16 is out of reach, Peel is determined to see a polished display to end this block of matches.
Reflecting on last weekend’s loss to Clermont, Peel said: “It is always a tough place to go. There were 15 minutes of the game when we conceded four tries too cheaply, which was disappointing. We battled hard in that first period, scrambled a lot and I thought we also played some really good stuff in the last half hour because it could have turned nasty at one point.”
“We are only halfway through the league so there is still a long way to go in the URC. Europe has been poor to go from last year’s high to this year’s low. For us, this game is important, we have a break next week which is needed from a players and staff perspective. There has been a lot of hard work gone in and we haven’t had the results to show for it. This week is important to finish this block on a positive so we can springboard into the matches to come.”
Scarlets have eight players named in Warren Gatland’s squad for the forthcoming Six Nations.
Peel added: “I am very pleased for all of them. We have guys starting their first Six Nations campaign and then we have someone like Gar (Davies) who is a bit of an old stager now. I am delighted for the likes of Kemsley, Ioan Lloyd, who has played exceptionally well, Tom Rogers and I think Josh Macleod would probably have been in the mix as well had it not been for his injury. Those boys are going to be the spine of this team for a long time.”
You can watch the full press conference below