By Graham Thomas
It was the defeat that launched a thousand jokes.
Most of them, it has to be said, based around the same suggestion that Black Lion were a pub team, rather than the best club in Georgia.
This time last year, the Scarlets lost at home to the Georgian team whose name suggests they are based on a streetcorner, just down from the Three Feathers and across the road from The Coach and Horses.
But it was the Scarlets who were left crying in their beer last year as they were beaten 23-7 by opponents who will be eager for a repeat celebration on Sunday in round two of the Challenge Cup.
Of course, Wales know to their cost the rising strength of Georgian rugby as the eastern Europeans pressed their claims for inclusion into an expanded Six Nations tournament with a victory at the Principality Stadium two years ago that cost former coach Wayne Pivac his job.
But at least the Scarlets look in far better shape than they did 12 months ago. Dwayne Peels’ side were narrow 17-16 losers away to Bayonne in France last week, but put together three victories in succession in the URC in October.
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Assistant coach Emyr Phillips says: “I suppose, to come away from France disappointed not to get the win is a realisation of where we are.
“We are on the up, we are a team that is looking to go to France and win games, not just stay in games, but we also realise that you don’t go very far in these European competitions if you don’t win your home games.
“Black Lion showed last year they are a good, well-coached team with that Georgia coaching group in there and have serious players and power to go with it.
“We realise that home wins are important in this competition and they have already picked up a home win so their confidence will be high.”
There was much talk both before and following the first round of competition that both European tournaments are not what they were.
That fall in status was reflected in the way teams across the board rested players from their regular domestic line-ups.
Some teams looked rather like mix-and-match line-ups – the kind of thing that Liverpool or Manchester City might do before away ties to lower league opposition in the Carabao Cup.
But former Wales hooker Phillips insists Europe is still relevant and occupies an important spot in the Scarlets’ calendar.
CYHOEDDIAD TÎM | TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT
Our Scarlets team to face @BlackLionRugby on Sunday at Parc y Scarlets
https://t.co/WEkcCLUJCH
@ChallengeCup_ Rd 2
⏰ 13:00Tîm y Scarlets i wynebu Black Lion ar ddydd Sul ym Mharc y Scarlets #ChallengeCupRugby #YmaOHyd pic.twitter.com/y1x08hNr5b
— Scarlets Rugby (@scarlets_rugby) December 13, 2024
“We saw a couple of years ago, if we go deep in this competition, it really does drive excitement within the club and within our supporters,” adds Phillips.
“Europe is something we love, it is certainly special to the club. The thing that we love as a club is giving our supporters home knockout rugby. We have seen before when we earn the right to have those fixtures, the supporters come out and we have great days.
“Part of the reason the boys love this club is how connected we are to the supporters. We will be doing our best to make sure they have some good days out again and also give ourselves a fighting chance in two different competitions.”
The Scarlets host Black Lion – who are likely to include a high number of current Georgian internationals – on Sunday afternoon at 1.00pm.
Before then, two other Welsh teams in the competition are both in action on Saturday.
Cardiff host the Cheetahs from South Africa at 8.00pm, whilst the Ospreys travel to France to meet Montpellier, where the Swansea region were winners two years ago.
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT
All 4 try scorers from last week to start
New signing Spencer into the fold
7️⃣ Jac back on the opensideYour team to face @MHR_officiel in the EPCR @ChallengeCup_ round 2, kicking off Saturday 14th at 1pm.
Game live on… pic.twitter.com/TVrXrIUHF5
— Ospreys (@ospreys) December 13, 2024
Of all his achievements as head coach at the Ospreys, doing the double over Montpellier in the Champions Cup when they were French champions, has to be up there for Toby Booth.
Now in his final season in charge, Booth would love nothing better than to repeat the famous 21-10 triumph in Montpelier in the 2022-23 season which ended a run of 10 Champions Cup games without a win. That was followed by an epic 35-29 home win over the Frenchmen
This time they meet in the Challenge Cup with both teams having kicked-off their respective campaigns with a victory in Round 1 – Montpellier beat the Dragons at Rodney Parade 18-14, while the Ospreys picked up a bonus point in their 30-14 triumph over the Lions at Parc Y Scarlets.
“We will go with the best team we’ve got and we won’t be holding anyone back. I thought our performance last weekend against the Lions was the best of the season to date,” said Booth.
“Momentum is key for us and we want to build on the result and performance against the Lions. We want to be able to go into Block 2 of the URC with some of that behind us.”
Like the Scarlets, the Dragons play on Sunday afternoon, when they visit Newcastle Falcons at 3.15pm.
