Dwayne Peel reacts to last-gasp defeat to Ospreys

Rob LloydNews

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel admitted the last-gasp loss to the Ospreys was a tough one to take.

Speaking in the aftermath of the stoppage-time 23-22 defeat, which saw Ospreys replacement Iestyn Hopkins score with the clock in the red, Peel said: “Ultimately, the game was there for the taking and we didn’t finish it off, it is the most disappointing loss of the season.

“There have been games this year that we have lost late on and it has been a toss of a coin, that was one we let slip. We were in command at half-time and slowly let them back into it. We didn’t execute in the second half as well as we could have. In the first half we played with tempo and were clinical but in the second half we lacked accuracy, we lost momentum, the game went slower and we played the game we didn’t want to.  We were also down to 14 men for 15 minutes of that half.

“The boys are gutted more than any loss this season because it was a game we should have sewn up.

“We spoke in the changing room afterwards, we have to move on, we will have time away, spend time with our families over Christmas and when we come back we know we have a job to do on New Year’s Day.”