The season kicked-off with a great atmosphere at Parc Y Scarlets, as Irish giants Ulster came to town. They weren’t the only visitors, as Sky Sports made their presence known, broadcasting their first Pro12 fixture.
The team sheets asked as many questions as they answered. On the Scarlets side, exciting wing Jordan Williams was left out of the squad without any report of injury. We could have another Matthew Morgan on our hands in West Wales, as Williams looks to be out in the cold. Ulster provided even more shocks by leaving Andrew Trimble on the bench and not including Tommy Bowe or Paddy Jackson in the squad. Perhaps it would not be the all singing all dancing start to the season we expected.
With beautiful conditions for running rugby the players warmed up and the Sky Sports team sound checked with former England international Will Greenwood in sight on the pitch. Rhys Priestland got the Scarlets season under way with a deep kick into the Ulster 22. Harry Robinson opened the scoring after just one minute and fifty-three seconds, touching down on his debut for the West Walians. The try came from a good intercept by Michael Tagicakibau, with Scott Williams then chipping ahead. Ulster failed to clear their lines and the Scarlets spread the play well to find the overlap.
Only six minutes later Ulster struck back. After Jarrad Payne, Louis Ludik and Chris Henry all drove against the Scarlet line. Franco Van Der Merwe came around the corner and his pace and power allowed him to get across the whitewash in the left-hand corner. A superb conversion by ex-London Irish outside half Ian Humphreys followed. Priestland responded with a penalty making it 10-7.
Inside centre Stuart Olding made an excellent break through the midfield and was under the posts, were it not for a desperate ankle tap from Gareth Davies. The Ulstermen showed good composure to recycle and spread the ball right and allow second row Dan Tuohy to shrug off Tagicakibau in the corner. Humphreys missed his only kick of the day from the right hand side. Making the score, 10-12 to Ulster, after just 13 minutes.
The Scarlets looked solid in the scrum in the opening phases, as they had done for much of last season. The scrum is becoming a real weapon for the West Wales region. Twenty-six minutes in the Scarlets made it 17-12 after a composed amount period of time in the Ulster 22. Gareth Davies looked at his lively best as he made a sniping break to take the Scarlets close to the line. The Scarlets spread the ball and Scott Williams put Rory Pitman in, managing to barge over despite being dragged down by Louis Ludik, Paul Marshall and Craig Gilroy.
Ulster had Louis Ludik’s try disallowed for a multitude of reasons, soon after. It was good interplay by Ulster down the right hand side but there was a clear crossing offence earlier in the move. The long delay riled the passionate Scarlets crowd as it disrupted what had been a flowing game. The referee eventually chalked it off for an obstruction in the move.
However, a few minutes later Ulster narrowed the gap. Humphreys kicked a penalty from just inside the Scarlet half to make it 17-15. There was a definite intent to play from the Scarlets and they kicked some very easy three pointers into the corner. This added to the frenetic pace of the game and the Scarlets began to look tired before the first half was out.
Ulster’s young centre Stuart Olding was a real livewire in the first half and on 36 minutes made another break through the centre of the Scarlets line before Rory Pitman scragged him down. As the first-half drew to a close, the Scarlets had a stroke of luck as the ball was passed into Jake Ball’s hands by an Ulster player. The lock released Gareth Davies who put on the gas to open his account for the new campaign. Priestland converted to make in 24-15.
Five minutes into the second-half it went from bad to worse for Ulster as Scott Williams milked a penalty out of Dan Tuohy, who was sin-binned. The centre grubbered the ball on and ran into the lock inside the Ulster 22, forcing the obstruction. Priestland kicked the three points. 27-15. Liam Williams joined Tuohy two minutes later for a deliberate knock-on, allowing Ian Humphreys to add a further three points to reduce the deficit to nine points at, 27-18.
Dan Tuohy comes back on at fifty-five minutes and in the first lull in the match not much happened whilst either he or Liam Williams have been gone, who follows him back two minutes later. Back on the field, Liam Williams took a high ball excellently before offloading to the tireless Rory Pitman, who ran hard all afternoon. The ball went through the hands until the composed Regan King delivered a good ball to replacement Gareth Owen. However, Owen’s pass was lost forward and the try went begging.
Three minutes later the Scarlets got their bonus point as Gareth Davies finished off a great move. Gareth Owen made up for his earlier mistake as he sliced through the line and delivered the ball to Liam Williams. Williams showed his pace before offloading to Rory Pitman. Pitman popped the ball up to Gareth Davies, who was sniffing around like all good try scorers do. Not converted by Priestland, 32-18.
Ulster responded with their own try. Full-back Louis Ludik ran a great line on the 22 and glided over to make in 32-23. Try was converted by Humphreys, to make it 32-25 with ten minutes left to play. All still to play for! With just seven minutes left, Ulster looked to be ready to cross the line after Craig Gilroy’s jinking run takes them within inches of the Scarlets whitewash. However, the Scarlets line held and they held Ulster up and gained the turnover.
Scarlets defended for their lives in the closing exchanges putting in some huge hits. As Ulster made their way down the field, the end result began to look ominous. Just two minutes from time, Ulster missed the chance to score when it was so much easier to go under the posts. However, in the build-up Liam Williams had committed a professional foul to prevent the try and received a second yellow card.
In the resulting scrum a simple eight-nine move put Andrew Trimble in enough space to finish off and get as close to the posts as he could. It gave Ulster the bonus point they wanted but neither side could keep the ball alive in over time to get with range of a shot at goal.
The 6,531 fans in attendance will have been thoroughly entertained and so will viewers of Sky Sports. However, with the score at 32-18 with just over ten minutes left on the clock the Scarlets will be wondering how they didn’t manage to close the game out and take the full five points
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