In the wake of Saturday’s disappointing loss to the DHL Stormers, Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel has admitted the pressure is now ramped up for the big West Wales derby against the Ospreys in Llanelli.
The West Walians went down 29-17 to the South African visitors at Parc y Scarlets in another game the home side had opportunities to win.
And afterwards Peel admitted, errors in key moments cost his side dear in their bid to take another step towards the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs.
He said: “We started the game slowly, it was a loose start from us which gave them transition ball which they strive on and they hurt us from it.
“I felt we grew into the game, but in key moments we weren’t accurate. Going into the next games when the big moments come we have to take them. We need to get to the point where we are putting games like that to bed and putting our foot on the throat.
“The Stormers came over here with a strong team, high-quality players and a lot of Springboks in their side, but I felt we did enough to be in the game, we just weren’t clinical enough in the big moments, with and without the ball.
“When you play a side like the Stormers, you have to be accurate and on it all the time – defensively, there were a few lapses which gave them points. I thought we matched them physically, we spoke about that, but it is not about just matching them, it is about us going and winning those games.
“That’s the disappointing thing for me. We had a couple of opportunities on the edges when skill let us down. We wanted to contest heavily against them with our kicking game, but didn’t get as much ball back in the air as we would have liked, which is part of our strength in playing on transition, similar to them.
“There was a bit of a half-time rollicking because the first 20 or 30 minutes I thought we were a bit flat and gave them too many ins. We had a lot more energy in the second half, had a linebreak from Archie at the end and a golden opportunity off a turnover but weren’t able to get the ball to the edges where the space was. We had opportunities when we could have put them to bed.
“We had a young backline out there at the end and it is going to take time for those guys to understand and learn that foot-on-the-throat mentality, but we have to try and grow it fast, accelerate the learning, that is the truth of it.”
Looking forward to Saturday’s encounter, with close to nine thousand tickets already sold, Peel added: “The defeat has heightened the pressure for the top eight, but it is still all to play for. We have a huge opportunity here against the Ospreys on Saturday, we have a big crowd in and a couple of good results can turn things around quickly.
“We have got to come back in on “Monday, hold ourselves accountable and move forward.
“There is plenty of motivation – we will kick ourselves in the backside for this loss, it is a massive derby game, there are crucial league points at stake, there is a lot going on.
“We will be ready mentally for it, there is no question about that. The big work-on will be executing and delivering in those big moments.”
You can get your tickets for Saturday’s crucial derby clash HERE