Scarlets claimed a crucial bonus-point win in their push for the BKT URC play-offs, digging deep to overcome a 13-point second-half deficit to emerge 31-23 victors over the Dragons on Judgement Day X.
The sense of relief at the final whistle was palpable for Dwayne Peel and his squad following a match that saw the pendulum swing throughout.
It was by no means a vintage performance from the West Walians, but at this stage of the season, it’s all about bagging the points and the Scarlets did just that to push themselves within touching distance of the top eight.
After a bright start they fell 20-7 behind early in the second period, but tries from Alec Hepburn, Vaea Fifita and Blair Murray – who pounced on a Dragons mistake late on – coupled with the immaculate boot of Ioan Lloyd saw them to the finish line.
Scarlets dominated the opening exchanges and thought they had scored the first try when second row and player of the match Sam Lousi stretched over, only for the score to be chalked off by the officials.
A cynical offence at a ruck close to his line led to Dragons loose-head Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths being yellow carded, but the ‘home’ side continued to hold out, aided by Scarlets’ handling errors.
The pressure eventually told when, from an attacking line-out, prop Henry Thomas picked up and drove over from close range for his first Scarlets try. Lloyd landed the extras.
But back came the Dragons and with their first meaningful attack wing Jared Rosser was sent racing away down the touchline to the whitewash. Former Scarlet Angus O’Brien was wide with the touchline conversion.
Mistakes aplenty prevented the game getting into any sort of flow and it was the Dragons who took a one-point advantage into the changing rooms at the interval when O’Brien slotted over a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
The Men of Gwent extended that lead straight after the restart with a try by Ashton Hewitt following a break up the middle by Aaron Wainwright. O’Brien converted to make it 15-7 and the Dragons fans were celebrating again moments later when Rosser claimed his second.
In desperate need of a spark, a brilliant off-load by Taine Plumtree set up an attack that eventually led to prop Hepburn twisting over. Lloyd nailed the touchline conversion and the Dragons were reduced to 14 men with a yellow card shown to hooker Elliot Dee.
The game then turned on its head when Fifita scored the Scarlets’ third after Tom Rogers had taken a quick tap and caused carnage in the Dragons defence. With Lloyd on target again, suddenly the Scarlets were ahead 21-20.
However, the lead was shortlived, with an infringement in front of the uprights allowing O’Brien to nudge his side back in front on 57 minutes.
Then came the late drama, a highlights-reel pass between his legs from Lousi sent replacement Joe Roberts haring to the posts and although he was halted just short, Scarlets were able to set up camp deep in Dragons territory.
Plumtree lost the ball in the act of scoring, then Murray claimed an opportunist score following Ewan Rosser’s mistake as he attempted to gather a tricky Gareth Davies chip ahead.
Lloyd’s conversion made it 28-21 and the fly-half settled all nerves by adding a last-minute penalty to secure the maximum haul.
All attention now turns to the final home match of the season against URC leaders Leinster on Saturday evening where it’s all to play for!
Scarlets: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Macs Page, Eddie James, Ellis Mee; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies; Alec Hepburn, Marnus van der Merwe, Henry Thomas (repl Sam Wainwright 47), Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (capt), Taine Plumtree
Replacements : Ryan Elias, Sam O’Connor, Sam Wainwright, Jac Price, Jarrod Taylor, Archie Hughes, Joe Roberts, Ioan Nicholas