URC: Edinburgh pick up two bonus points in Scarlets defeat

01/25/2025 03:21 PM

Scarlets 30

Edinburgh 24

HAMISH STUART @ Parc Y Scarlets

EDINBURGH'S travel plans may have been blown off track on the way down to South Wales, but at least two bonus points keep their league top-half hopes in line.

It was an opportunity lost in a game that saw them outscore the Scarlets by four tries to three, with indiscipline allowing home outside-half Ioan Lloyd to keep kicking his side in front, but at least Edinburgh came away with something despite all the changes.

The other piece of good news was that plenty of the young players were among those making an impression, including those coming into the Edinburgh set-up for the first time, or recently.

Left wing Lewis Wells lived up to his surname before injury shortened his game time, while forwards Harri Morris, Tom Currie and Rob Carmichael helped spark the late tries which brought Edinburgh back into the match.

With attention diverting to the Six Nations, that player development will be crucial during the international off weeks.

The bad news was another defeat on the road and the Scottish side are still looking for their first away win in the URC this season. Plus it seemed they had to be staring into the abyss at 13-0 and then 27-12 to bring out their more controlled play.

It all followed a troubled journey south, thanks to storm Eowyn, with the planned flight replaced with a 10-hour coach journey, though they did not use that as an excuse for a slow start.

"Ultimately if you give away 14 penalties then you are going to make life tough for yourself," said coach Sean Everitt.

"They made life tough for us, came hard and won a couple of breakdown penalties as well. Josh MacLeod was really good at that, so they put us under pressure.

"We do not look for excuses through the travel, we do not have control of the weather conditions. We got down here yesterday late, it was a 10-hour bus drive, but that is not the excuse, it was the errors we made today.

"We are a bit frustrated but it was a good effort from the boys. We would have liked three points if we could have got it to 27 all but two points are massive for us."

Despite international calls which took 15 players from the two teams, eight with Scotland, both were able to field strong line-ups thanks partly to returning players such as wings Steff Evans for the Scarlets and Harry Paterson for Edinburgh.

There were even a smattering of Lions on display, while Edinburgh had centre Matt Currie and hooker Patrick Harrison back from Scotland squad duties.

Slightly strangely there were more Scotland-qualified players in the Scarlets pack than Welsh qualified, just Josh MacLeod representing the home nation while both Alec Hepburn and Alex Craig have had recent Scotland involvement.

Edinburgh’s lack of discipline kicked in early, as two penalties converted by Scarlets outside-half Lloyd opened up an early home lead, while more penalties included one for a yellow card offence by hooker Patrick Harrison and an attacking lineout for the home side.

Hooker Marnus van der Merwe scored from the lineout drive, and Lloyd converted. By way of contrast, Edinburgh were called back when an apparent try for scrum-half Ali Price had included a forward pass earlier in the move.

When the visitors were able to build pressure of their own, skipper Sam Skinner drove over from close range, with Ben Healy adding the extra two points. Another lineout drive from close range brought a try on the stroke of half-time for Harrison.

Edinburgh also lost wing Paterson to a head injury, and then Wells to a leg injury, which forced a major reconstruction of the back line – only Price and centre James Lang remaining in their original positions.

Another lineout drive brought another try for the Scarlets early in the second half, this time captain MacLeod the scorer. Lloyd converted from the right-hand touch line.

The Scarlets tightened their grip on the game after taking a tap penalty near the Edinburgh line, full-back Ioan Nicholas getting the try. Lloyd again converted.

Edinburgh started to ring the changes, which at least provided one nice moment with Tom Currie coming on in the back row to join his brother, who by now had moved out to the wing.

The changes had an impact with Healy managing to score in the corner and then convert himself to throw the Scots a lifeline.

Replacement hooker Harri Morris got over for Edinburgh’s fourth, bonus-point try. Healy missed the touchline conversion to leave it a three-point game. But Scarlets had the last word as Lloyd secured the victory with a penalty.

Teams –

Scarlets: I Nicholas; J Davies, M Page, J Williams, S Evans; I Lloyd, G Davies; A Hepburn (S O'Connor 77), M van der Merwe, A Holz (G Hawley 71), A Craig (J Price 68), S Lousi, M Douglas (T Plumtree 46), J Macleod (Capt), V Fifita.

Edinburgh: W Goosen; H Paterson (M Tuipulotu 40), M Currie, J Lang, L Wells (R Thompson 53); B Healy, A Price (B Vellacott 63); B Venter (R Hislop 63), P Harrison (H Morris 68), P Hill (J Sebastian 63), G Young (R Carmichael 65), S Skinner (capt), L McConnell (H Morris 27-34, T Currie 60), H Watson, T Dodd. YC: Harrison (24)

Scorers –

Scarlets: Tries: Van der Merwe, MacLeod, Nicholas. Cons: Lloyd 3. Pens: Lloyd 3.

Edinburgh: Tries: Skinner, Harrison, Healy, Morris. Cons: Healy 2.

Scoring sequence (Scarlets first): 3-0; 6-0; 11-0; 13-0; 13-5; 13-7; 13-12 HT; 18-12; 20-12; 25-12; 27-12; 27-17; 27-19; 27-24; 30-24.

Yellow cards –

Scarlets: Fifita 38. Edinburgh: Harrison 24.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).

Attendance: 5,756.

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