Scarlets arrive in confident mood
The ominous warning issued by the Scarlets in their unexpectedly one-sided win over Glasgow Warriors last weekend has buoyed the visiting team’s confidence ahead of Friday night’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with the Cell C Sharks in Durban on Friday.
The Warriors, who started the weekend in third position on the URC log, started as strong favourites to extend their unbeaten run in the competition to six games even though they were playing away from home. The Scarlets had after all been on a losing streak of four matches, so the two teams were at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as momentum was concerned.
The Scottish team started off strongly enough at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli and the pre-match predictions looked like they’d be proven correct, but Scarlets scored five unanswered tries to turn a 10-0 deficit into a 35-10 win that put them in great spirits as they arrived in Durban on Monday ahead of a two-match tour of South Africa.
After playing the Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, the Welsh team heads to Loftus to play the Vodacom Bulls the following week.
As Sharks wing Sbu Nkosi noted in an online media interview on Tuesday afternoon, the Scarlets looked full of running and it does look like the work that has been done by head coach Dwayne Peel and his staff is starting to pay off for a team that used to be noted for attacking play but has struggled to put it together in recent times.
Instead of being cowed by the prospect of facing the Springbok-laden Sharks in a game that was rescheduled from its initial date in November because of the postponement necessitated by the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and the subsequent travel ban, Peel told the Scarlets website that his men were relishing the challenge.
“We have an opportunity to go up against a world-class side in a world-class stadium, it is great for our boys,” said Peel.
“We have some young guys travelling, the likes of Joe Roberts, so for people like him to go up against world-renowned stars is great. I’m looking forward to it. Look, the magnitude of the task is huge, there are some big units in both the Sharks and Bulls teams. We have prepared well and are looking forward to it and also looking forward to spending some time together on tour.”
Peel added that the win over Glasgow had provided plenty of examples of how the team wants to play and what it has been building towards.
The Warriors, who started the weekend in third position on the URC log, started as strong favourites to extend their unbeaten run in the competition to six games even though they were playing away from home. The Scarlets had after all been on a losing streak of four matches, so the two teams were at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as momentum was concerned.
The Scottish team started off strongly enough at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli and the pre-match predictions looked like they’d be proven correct, but Scarlets scored five unanswered tries to turn a 10-0 deficit into a 35-10 win that put them in great spirits as they arrived in Durban on Monday ahead of a two-match tour of South Africa.
After playing the Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, the Welsh team heads to Loftus to play the Vodacom Bulls the following week.
As Sharks wing Sbu Nkosi noted in an online media interview on Tuesday afternoon, the Scarlets looked full of running and it does look like the work that has been done by head coach Dwayne Peel and his staff is starting to pay off for a team that used to be noted for attacking play but has struggled to put it together in recent times.
Instead of being cowed by the prospect of facing the Springbok-laden Sharks in a game that was rescheduled from its initial date in November because of the postponement necessitated by the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and the subsequent travel ban, Peel told the Scarlets website that his men were relishing the challenge.
“We have an opportunity to go up against a world-class side in a world-class stadium, it is great for our boys,” said Peel.
“We have some young guys travelling, the likes of Joe Roberts, so for people like him to go up against world-renowned stars is great. I’m looking forward to it. Look, the magnitude of the task is huge, there are some big units in both the Sharks and Bulls teams. We have prepared well and are looking forward to it and also looking forward to spending some time together on tour.”
Peel added that the win over Glasgow had provided plenty of examples of how the team wants to play and what it has been building towards.
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