Having come into the final block of fixtures within the top eight placings, the 29-17 defeat in Llanelli against South African province DHL Stormers and a combination of other results saw the Scarlets drop five places to 12th in the URC table and five points behind their rivals.
Defeat has “heightened the pressure” for the top eight placings, says Peel. However, the Scarlets boss still feels that a place in the top eight is still very much up for grabs if his side can execute better to give themselves a chance taste glory over their old foes.
“We have a huge opportunity here against the Ospreys on Saturday,” said Peel in his pre-match conference.
“We will have a big crowd in, and a couple of good results can turn things around quickly.
“We started the game slowly [last time against Stormers]; 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. 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.”
Peel has revealed that the highly anticipated match-up in Llanelli will come too soon for fly-half Sam Costelow but says Wales back Blair Murray will be named in the squad.
“Sam [Costelow] won’t be available this week, but Blair [Murray] is in the mix,” continued Peel.
“We named him in the side last week, but he wasn’t quite right so we pulled him on Thursday.
“Sam Wainwright is also back having been a late withdrawal through illness on Saturday. There are also a couple of guys we are monitoring at the moment.
The in-form Ospreys come to Parc-y-Scarlets looking to extend their recent strong record under former Scarlets wing Mark Jones. Ex-Wales scrum-half, Peel, though, feels his young side will relish the occasion and can get one up on his old teammate.
“There is no better fixture than this week, a big derby, a big crowd, a big occasion. It is an exciting week to be part of.
“The league being so tight, sides are going to take points off each other and you have two sides going at it on Saturday with exactly that in mind.
“They have got momentum and have been playing well and with freedom and look like they are enjoying their rugby.
“They have changed a bit of their style, are looking to move the ball a lot more, and were scoring freely before half-time on Saturday.
“Losing in the last play [at the Swansea.com in December] was a killer – we have had a few of those this season!
“Hopefully, it is in everyone’s back of their minds, not at the forefront, but it is an opportunity for us to put that right this week. When you are ahead and have the foot to the throat you can’t let sides back into the game.
“There is plenty to play for with Europe next week as well. It is nice to be at this part of the season when you are in the mix and hunting hard for stuff.
“Yes, we have some tough games left but we have shown this year we are able to stay in tough games. This week is pivotal, we have to make sure we are on the right end of the result if we want to kick on for the rest of the season.”
Scarlets XV to play Ospreys at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday, March 29
15 Blair Murray; 14 Macs Page 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Ellis Mee; 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies;
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Alex Craig, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Vaea Fifita, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 8 Taine Plumtree.
Replacements:
16 Ryan Elias, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Ioan Nicholas, 23 Dan Davis
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
