A much-improved performance from the west-Walians last weekend saw Peel’s side play well in spells to take a surprise 15-7 lead into the break against Edinburgh at the Hive.
First-half scores from Wales stars Tom Rogers and Gareth Davies though were quickly forgotten as the play-off chasing Scottish side upped their performance levels and put the Welsh region to the sword after the break.
Duhan van der Merwe, Matt Currie, Pierre Schoeman, Mark Bennett and Bill Mata scoring five unanswered tries between them in the 43-18 thrashing to make it the seventh time in 14 URC matches this season the Scarlets had conceded 40 points or more.
Back on home soil, 13th-placed powerhouse South African province Sharks come to town looking to maintain their upturn in recent form which has seen two URC wins in the last three games and progress in Europe.
The Durban-based outfit whilst out of the reckoning for a top-eight finish, will be looking to produce a positive performance to build momentum ahead of their EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final against French side Clermont Auvergne next weekend.
The Sharks, much like the Scarlets though, have not fared well on their travels and their latest defeat in Glasgow means they are also without an away win in the campaign.
The Kwazulu-Natalians come into the match separated purely by two bonus points from their Welsh counterparts but will fancy their chances against a side with the second-worst defensive record in the league.
Peel, looking for positional gains in the URC table, knows the Sharks will be a tough prospect but a challenge his side will look forward to facing.
“For us, that is a massive challenge but an exciting one as it is every time a South African side comes here,” said the Scarlets head coach.
“They like us will want to put on a performance and will want to climb up the league. We are both similar in terms of points so it will be a big game from that perspective.
“Physically you got to be on your metal and step up, you only have to look at the names they have on their team sheet – there are some star-studded names there.
“You look at the Sharks squad, they can pretty much put out a Springbok pack when they want to.
“I think with the fact that they are in the semi-final [of the Challenge Cup] the week after they will want to use this as a bit of hit out for their Springbok boys.
“From our perspective, they will be looking to put a game plan together for us and a bit of that in mind.
“We have spoken about fight and playing with a bit of freedom. There were elements of that in our display [against Edinburgh] in the first hour.
“We were resolute at times, especially on our goal-line defense. We made Edinburgh work hard in that area in the first period.
“We showed glimpses with the ball that were exciting. We held the game line well and I thought the offloading, which is something we’ve worked hard on started to come through.
“It is definitely an issue [the amount of points conceded in the last 20 minutes]. It was last week and the game previous.
“I think for us we need to stay in that fight for 80 minutes. We have the leaders [to help], and it is important that you stay in the game.
“When you are in those situations under pressure, decisions and momentum sometimes goes against you while we try and stay in the fight.
“It is something we need to work on and improve. We are a work in progress in that and it’s an area we will target over the next couple of games, over the off-season and next season as well.
“The opportunity is there for us to perform at home. It’s a big game.”
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
