Scarlets Interim Director of Rugby Nigel Davies and skipper Josh Macleod spoke to the media after Sunday’s battling Investec Champions Cup defeat to Northampton Saints.
Here’s what they had to say
Nigel Davies said: “I was proud of that performance and delighted by how we took the challenge on. I have told the players that they have set their standards this whole week with how they have applied themselves mentally and physically.
“If you ask me the difference between the two teams, it would have been the scrum. There were a lot of scrum penalties against us, off our ball and their ball and also a couple of kicks that didn’t make touch, there were a lot of launch opportunities that we missed out on there and that was the game.
“Physically, I thought we manned up, the boys did everything asked of them. What we need to do is get up to those levels of performance every week, they have set the standard – they need to maintain that now. Hopefully we can do that moving forward.”
Nigel added: “Coming in, I haven’t done a huge amount. We have simplified things and we have looked at our DNA as a team. We are not there yet, but there are elements of that performance that will stand us in good stead.”
Asked to elaborate on the DNA comment, he replied: “We stress teams the most when we keep the ball alive and have quick movement in our game, for that to happen partnerships are really important and I saw a lot of positive things in our midfield partnership for example. I saw a lot of things there that I liked.
“I thought Eddie James had one of his best games for us, he is a real talent, a real athlete. Him and Joe (Hawkins) worked well and I thought we have X factors players when we move the ball. Someone like Jac Davies, who is one of the young players in this group who has a real spark, had a fantastic game.
“We also have someone like 18-year-old Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, who we took out of school to train with us this week. There were doubts over Sam Costelow before the game, if he hadn’t made it, Carwyn would have played. Giving these guys opportunities is what we are going to be doing.
“There is a lot of work to do, we have started the process but I have been really encouraged by the way the guys have taken to it.”
Nigel also paid tribute to the travelling support, which helped produce a stirring atmosphere at Franklin’s Gardens.
“They were superb, they really lifted the boys when they had to dig deep. The players feed off the supporters and vice versa.”
Those words were echoed by Josh.
“On the whole I am immensely proud of the effort, desire, fight, that was shown in heaps,” said the captain.
“We will be honest in our review because there were elements out there that cost us the game, but on the whole I felt it was a decent performance.”
On the support on Sunday, Josh added: “Our fans are incredibly loyal. We speak in the week about giving something back to these people who spend a lot of money and time coming to support us. From a playing group and organisation it means the world to see people turning up in their hundreds to support us and hopefully today showed a little bit of what we are trying to give back.”