Dwayne Peel insists he is content with the progress the Scarlets have made this season – but will be a whole lot happier if they back up their victory over the Ospreys last weekend with another defeat of their biggest rivals.
The West Wales neighbours meet on Sunday in the last 16 of the European Challenge Cup, eight days after the Scarlets scored a six-try victory in the United Rugby Championship.
It was arguably the Scarlets’ best performance of the season as they stormed back from a 17-point deficit to win, 38-22, in front of a healthy home crowd of 11,384.
Head coach Peel refutes the suggestion the standards reached point to a relative under-achievement this season, for a team still back in 10th spot in the URC table.
But he admits the region would have more victories – they have won eight out of 18 matches this season – if they had seized their opportunities.
“We want to compete hard in every game and I think we've done that,” says Peel, who got one over his old Wales and Scarlets teammate, Ospreys coach Mark Jones last weekend.
“There have been games, undoubtedly, where we've lost in the last period. I'm looking back - Connacht, Glasgow, Ulster, the Ospreys away - we lost late on or even with the last play.
“Now, those moments have undoubtedly hurt us from a league position. That is the reality of it. We can't hide from that fact.
“But we're in those games fighting hard and if two or three of those had gone the other way, we would be looking at a very different perspective.
“I think that the whole purpose for us is to turn those narrow losses into wins. But I'd rather be in that position, fighting hard.
“Yes, we lost games. We can fix that. But if we're not competitive, we can't fix it. We have become competitive.
“So, I think that if you look at where we are at the minute, have we underachieved? I'd say that we're competing hard.”
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The Ospreys were firm favourites to win the first game and they will probably be so again, given home advantage at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Swansea side are also likely to start with some of their forwards they chose to rest from their starting line-up for the first game – including both Dewi Lake and Justin Tipuric.
For Peel, the back-to-back fixtures against the same opposition reminds him of the old pool stage format in European competition.
What he knows he must ensure is that his young team start with the same intensity they managed for the final hour of the first game, rather than their limp first 20 minutes.
“We know we have a young backline who are learning the game and there have been moments in the season where we probably haven't had that composure going into the last periods of game,” adds the former Wales scrum-half.
“But I felt the clarity we had within the game plan and the composure we showed was pleasing for me. I felt we were very clinical and we were clear on the way we wanted to play and move the ball.”
That raw but exciting back line of Blair Murray, Macs Page, Joe Roberts, Eddie James and Ellis Mee – with Ioan Lloyd at outside-half and the old head of Gareth Davies at No.9 – offers the Scarlets something they can shape and improve over a number of years.
The biggest question may be how many of those players they can hang on to, given their ongoing financial struggles.
Murray and Mee are already reported to be targets for English clubs, Lloyd is joining Cardiff, while Johnny Williams – currently sidelined with injury – may also be moving on at the end of the campaign.
“There's always speculation around players at this time of the season, but there's obviously negotiation going on in terms of retention and recruitment,” adds Peel.
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“We have put a lot of emphasis on bringing our own players through and we have started to see the benefit of that with the amount of minutes someone like Macs Page is getting.
“We don’t have an unlimited budget for recruitment, but we aim to be as competitive as we can be.”
A run towards the final of the Challenge Cup may help with recruitment, especially if the Scarlets were to lift the trophy and guarantee themselves a place in the Champions Cup next season.
The winners of Sunday’s tie will be heading to either France to meet Lyon, or to South Africa to face the Sharks.
Peel, though, insists he has attached no priority to either the URC or the Challenge Cup.
“We honestly have not set a priority.
“We had a good run in the Challenge Cup a couple of years ago, when we made the semi-final.
“But we need to battle on both fronts because we have a small squad and we require momentum.
“This game, though, has extra spice to it because it’s the Ospreys and then we will see where we are on Monday morning.”
