By David Williams
Scarlets centre Johnny Williams has praised Sam Costelow for his “nerves of steel” as they look ahead to a European semi-final.
Williams was a tryscorer as the Scarlets came from behind late on to beat Clermont Auvergne, 32-30, on Friday night to secure a home Challenge Cup semi-final against Glasgow.
Costelow’s conversion of Ryan Conbeer’s corner try three minutes from time gave the home fans a famous European night at Parc Y Scarlets over opponents who had been reduced to 14 men.
The Top 14 outfit had centre Irae Simone sent off in the 24th-minute for a reckless tackle on Leigh Halfpenny.
The Scarlets were also down to 14 men for 20 minutes of the game when lock Vaea Fifita and scrum half Gareth Davies were shown yellow cards in either half.
The Scarlets scored tries through Halfpenny, Costelow and a 40 metre interception effort from Johnny Williams.
Clermont responded with tries from Simone, Giorgi Beria and an Alivereti Raka brace, before Conbeer’s late strike and the nerveless conversion from man of the match Costelow.
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Wales centre Williams, who continued his recent rich vein of form with an impressive performance and an interception try, said: ““I was praying on the halfway line when Sam was kicking so he must have had nerves of steel.
“We switched off a bit when they had the red card but it soon evened out when we lost two players to the bin pretty quickly.
“We want to go all the way in the competition and that is certainly the goal. It was a very tight game but it was a serious result for us.
“It was nerve-racking at the end but I always thought it was coming our way and I’m very proud of the performance.”
It was the first time in eight attempts in the two European competitions that the Scarlets managed to get the better of Clermont and it was their 11th win in 13 games in a much improved second half to the season.
With two Top 14 scalps under their belt in successive weekends, Brive in the Round of 16 and now Clermont, Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel will be hoping his side can make it fifth time lucky and go on to reach a European final for the first time.
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Their previous four semi-finals were all in the Heineken Champions Cup in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2018
“When you look at this competition, finishing top of the table in the pool stages to secure home advantage has been huge,” said Peel.
“It [the semi-final] will be a massive occasion. Being at home does not mean necessarily you are going to win the game but it helps and for our fantastic supporters, it’s a massive day out.
“To have an occasion at home for our supporters is something we will all look forward to.”
“On 65 minutes, I thought we were really up against it as we were struggling to cope with their power game. Sam’s kick was fantastic but we showed terrific fight and endeavour to get the job done. But if I was in Clermont’s shoes, I would be very disappointed.
“It’s a massive competition but it shows how important it was to finish top of the group and gets these home games. It won’t be easy in the semi-finals as Glasgow are in good and Lions are picking up with some good results lately.”
Scarlets were quick out of the blocks to build a 15-3 lead but the dismissal of Simone for a head-high challenge on Leigh Halfpenny seemed to galvanize the French side, who were much the better team until 10 minutes from the end when the home side conjured up a late rally to turn things around.
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