Dwayne Peel rues Scarlets’ ‘fundamentally poor’ performance in shock loss to Black Lion

Scarlets coach Dwayne Peel rued a disappointing start to the Challenge Cup after last week’s 23-7 defeat to Black Lion in Llanelli.

The result left Scarlets at the bottom of Pool Three’s six-team standings after two defeats in as many matches. They also lost 34-16 to Castres earlier this month.

‘Hard lessons to be learned’

“There’s hard lessons to be learned in that game and we need to get better,” Peel told the BBC.

“We are obviously bitterly disappointed in the changing room. We’ll look at the performance and some of the performance was fundamentally poor, that’s the truth.”

Scarlets‘ next fixture will be against Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on December 26.

Peel’s team have collected two wins and five defeats in this season’s URC. Ospreys beat Scarlets 31-7  in the URC last month.

“This match is huge for us. We had a pretty humbling night when we played Ospreys last and we have an opportunity in 10 days time to repay that,” added Peel.

“It’s always a big game against them and for where we are now it becomes an important game and we’ll prepare that way and put in a performance that we’re proud of.”

Injuries wreaking havoc

Scarlets’ Challenge Cup and URC campaigns have been limited by several injuries. These include Wales internationals Ken Owens, Wyn Jones, Johnny McNicholl, Taine Plumtree, Josh Macleod and Sam Costelow.

“We are where we are and we have the squad we have, and for us we need to be better in our performances,” concluded Peel.

“We know we’ve got players out and have injuries and there will be a number of players who will be available over the next couple of weeks and that will add energy and boost the squad no doubt.”

READ MORE: Black Lion make history as they stun Scarlets while Gloucester see off Clermont