By David Williams
Glenn Delaney admitted the Scarlets had to “circle the wagons” before they could arrive at their European destination.
The head coach praised his side’s resourcefulness and powers of recovery after they overcame a huge 21-point deficit against Connacht to secure their place in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
The Scarlets recovered from an awful first half to beat Connacht 41-36 and cement their place in next season’s main European tournament.
Tries from Aaron Shingler, Steffan Hughes (twice), Dane Blacker, Tom Rodgers, and Javan Sebastian along with 11 points from the boot of Dan Jones secured the Scarlets a bonus point win.
But Delaney conceded: “You probably saw in the first half we were playing under the weight of expectation.
“We weren’t really free and Connacht were outstanding. They were fast, they played with tempo, they put us under pressure and we conceded cards – even in the act of scoring we conceded a card.
“We had to circle the wagons a bit and focus on the fact that when we had the ball we were scoring, so we just had to maintain possession and we managed to do that in the second half.
“We have a really strong leadership group. They needed to grasp the nettle and they did, and we can be really proud of them. Our attention to detail at the breakdown was top-notch, probably the best it’s been this season.”
Connacht’s scores came from John Porch, Abraham Papali’i, Sean O’Brien, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, and Kieran Marmion, while Conor Fitzgerald and Jack Carty kicked 11 points between them
It took the Scarlets a mere three minutes to score their opening try of a dry evening in Llanelli. The Scarlets created an overlap, with a well-timed looping pass from captain Hughes sending Wales international Shingler over at the far left-hand corner.
But Connacht hit back with a period of sustained pressure as their forwards lay siege to the Scarlets line, with powerful No 8 Papali’i held up over the line. The Scarlets were starting to get strained by Connacht’s pressure resulting in Scarlets hooker Marc Jones being sent to the sin bin for illegally killing the ball at the breakdown.
And Connacht pressure finally told with their full back Porch crossing the line after the Irish province had worked an overlap to the left after a couple of dominant scrums.
Match. Of. The. Season. 😱
An incredible comeback from @scarlets_rugby saw them defeat @connachtrugby on Monday night in an absolute classic! 😎
#️⃣ #SCAvCON
🏆 #GuinnessPRO14 pic.twitter.com/CGcOg5yN0w— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) March 22, 2021
The visitors were soon celebrating their second try. Ireland international scrum-half Marmion was the architect with a break into the Scarlets 22. The ball was quickly recycled, with a long pass from Fitzgerald taken by former rugby league star Papali’i who powered his way over the line.
Scarlets full back Rodgers had a try disallowed with referee Ben Whitehouse sending tighthead prop Pieter Scholtz to the sin bin for leading with the elbow into a tackle.
Connacht scored arguably their try of the season with impressive centre O’Brien making a 50 metres break, before offloading to Porch who delicately flicked the ball back inside for O’Brien to score.
Steff Evans probed and attracted defenders, with a lovely offload sending Hughes over for the Scarlets’ second try.
But Connacht hit straight back with the hosts missing too many first up tackles, and after going through the phases Robertson-McCoy dived over from short-range before Kieran Marmion crossed to give them a commanding 33-13 lead at the interval.
The second-half was a complete role reversal to the first with the Scarlets scoring three tries in the space of 18 minutes.
Johnny Williams showing up very well for the Scarlets since being chucked on for a rescue mission. Reckon he’ll win plenty of caps for Wales.
— Owain Jones (@OwainJTJones) March 22, 2021
Hughes was first to score after a strong break from Johnny Williams, before big lock Sam Lousi sent Blacker over.
Rodgers then made amends for his disallowed try as he raced down the touchline to bring Scarlets back within two points.
The Scarlets were now rampant and took the lead through Jones’ boot after Connacht pulled down the maul, and they extended their lead even further when replacement prop Sebastian powered over from short range.
But Carty secured two losing bonus points with a late penalty.
