Scarlets & Ospreys into play-offs

Yesterday at 03:59 PM

SATURDAY WRAP: Scarlets overpowered RC Vannes for bonus-point win to secure knockout qualification, while Ospreys fought back against Section Paloise to secure home advantage in the Round of 16.

After nailing down the bonus point in the first half thanks to two tries from Josh Macleod and one each from Blair Murray, Gareth Davies, and Tom Rogers, Scarlets continued their dominance in the second 40 to secure knockout qualification.

The French visitors scored four tries in the second half, but another from the hosts through Marnus van der Merwe was enough to see them run out 38-28 winners.

A double from skipper Josh Macleod put Scarlets in command against RC Vannes in Llanelli.

Further tries from Blair Murray, Gareth Davies and Tom Rogers secured the bonus point as the French had no response, with the score sitting at 31-0 at the break.

* Capitalising on some early pressure, Theo Attissogbe showed great strength to power over for Section Paloise, with the competition's top points scorer so far Axel Desperes adding the extras.

Ryan Conbeer responded for Ospreys moments later with some quick hands putting him in out wide, having come back into the team this week, before Dan Edwards converted to level it at 7-all.

Fabien Brau-Boirie took a great crash line under the posts to put the hosts ahead once more, with Desperes converting again to make it 14-7 to Pau at the break.

Having gone into the break 7-14 down, Ospreys had the perfect start to the second 40 as they capitalised on a yellow card for Section Paloise to get over in the corner through Evardi Boshoff.

Dan Edwards converted again, following their first-half score from Ryan Conbeer, to level the score at 14-all.

Minutes later, Jac Morgan bundled over from short range to put Ospreys ahead in a tight game.

But Section Paloise responded, earning a penalty try after consecutive scrum penalties from Ospreys, before Eliott Roudil finished some hot hands in the corner to go 28-19 ahead.

Again the back-and-forth continued, with Dan Edwards taking a short line to crash over and narrow the gap back to four points.

Then shortly after they crossed the whitewash again, with a line break and some great offloading putting away Luke Davies as Ospreys edged ahead once more and secured a 31-28 win.

Scores and scorers below ...

Section Paloise 28-31 Ospreys

The scorers

For Section Paloise
Tries: Attissogbe, Brau-Boirie, Roudil, Penalty try
Cons: Desperes 3, penalty try does not require a conversion

For Ospreys
Tries: Conbeer, Boshoff, Morgan, Edwards, Davies
Cons: Edwards 3

Yellow card: Gregoire Arfeuil (Section Paloise, 44)

Teams

Section Paloise: 15 Clément Mondinat, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Eliott Roudil (captain), 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Gregoire Arfeuil, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Thomas Souverbie, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Thibaut Hamonou, 6 Joel Kpoku, 5 Remi Picquette, 4 Lekima Tagitagivalu, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Ignacio Calles.
Replacements: 16 Youri Delhommel, 17 Daniel Bibi Biziwu, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Brent Liufau, 20 Dan Jooste, 21 Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Emilien Gailleton.

Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 James Ratti, 5 James Fender, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Lewis Lloyd, 1 Steff Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Tristan Davies, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Jack Walsh.

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Francesco Meschini (Italy), Luca Bisetto (Italy)
TMO: Guiseppe Vivarini (Italy)

Scarlets 38-28 RC Vannes

The scorers

For Scarlets
Tries: Macleod 2, Murray, G Davies, Rogers, Van der Merwe
Cons: Lloyd 4

For Vannes
Tries: Camou, Uhila, Surano, Boulier
Cons: Cotarmanac'h, Lafage 3

Yellow card: Salesi Rayasi (Vannes, 31)

Teams

Scarlets: 15 Tom Rogers, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Max Douglas, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Gabe Hawley, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Ioan Nicholas.

RC Vannes: 15 Paul Surano, 14 Salesi Rayasi, 13 Inaki Ayarza, 12 Tani Vili, 11 Romaric Camou, 10 Jean Cotarmanac'h, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Karl Chateau, 7 Francisco Gorrissen (captain), 6 Leon Boulier, 5 Fabrice Metz, 4 Matthieu Uhila, 3 Paga Tafili, 2 Cyril Blanchard, 1 Charlesty Berguet.
Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Thomas Moukoro, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Joe Edwards, 21 Sione Kalamafoni, 22 Michael Ruru, 23 Maxime Lafage.

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morné Ferreira (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)