Scarlets continue their revival

Editor

Scarlets made it back-to-back wins in the PRO12 as they continued their revival with a 22-6 victory over Treviso at Stadio Monigo.

Quality rugby was at a premium in an opening half punctuated by missed chances and indiscipline. A penalty from Tommaso Allan saved the match from the ignominy of a scoreless opening 40 minutes.

Proceedings were livened up in the second-half as a penalty apiece got the scoreboard ticking.

A try from Werner Kruger put the Scarlets into the lead for the first time just before the hour mark. Late tries from DTH van der Merwe and Steffan Evans made sure of a hard fought victory, Scarlets' second of the season.

Meanwhile, the defeat leaves Treviso rooted in 11th place.

The opening half an hour of the match was a tepid affair and the first meaningful action came on 28 minutes as Treviso prop Alberto De Marchi was sent to the sin bin for a scrum infringement.

Despite being weakened by the yellow card, a scrum on 33 minutes was dominated by the hosts' pack resulting in referee Gary Conway awarding the Italian side a penalty. Allan was successful with his kick to score the first and only points of the first-half.

Scarlets fought back after the break and after 44 minutes were awarded a penalty which was dispatched by Rhys Patchell to tie the scores at three apiece.

The Italians responded with a kick of their own three minutes later as they ripped through the visitors' defence before being awarded a penalty. This was slotted home by Allan to restore his side's three-point advantage.

Scarlets had a player of their own sent to the bin after 48 minutes, David Bulbring the man penalised. However, it was his side who scored the game's first try six minutes later. A long spell of pressure on the Treviso defence was rewarded as replacement prop Kruger crossed the whitewash from close range. Patchell converted to make the score 10-6.

Van der Merwe scored this visitors' second try with 70 minutes on the clock, Patchell missed the conversion before being replaced by Aled Thomas who was making his 100th Scarlets appearance.

Try-scorer Kruger was yellow-carded with three minutes to play but his side would not suffer for this as Evans scored a try with the last play of the match. Thomas converted to take the final score up to 22-6.

The scorers:

For Treviso:
Pens: Allan 2

For Scarlets:
Tries: Kruger, Van der Merwe, Evans
Cons: Patchell, Thomas
Pen: Patchell

Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Luke McLean, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Dean Budd, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Alberto De Marchi
Replacements: 16 Luke Bigi, 17 Matthew Zanusso, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Filippo Gerosa, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Andrea Buondonno

Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 John Barclay. 7 James Davies, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (c), 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Luke Garrett, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Steff Hughes

Referee: Gary Conway (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Correll (Ireland), Simone Boaretto (Italy)
TMO: Francesco Grillo (Italy)