In a remarkable conclusion, replacement hooker Eduan Swart emerged from a crowd of bodies deep into added time to score from a driving maul to leave the Green and Whites stunned having led for the majority of the contest.
This all happened amidst a long delay after TMO had adjudged wing Steff Evans had not grounded the ball for a try moments earlier. With play pulled back for a Scarlets penalty from a knock-on in the build-up, Costelow would kick to touch before the home side’s scrum would power over.
The game itself was a bruising stop-started encounter and seemed to be heading the visitor’s way after Fijian winger Jacob Umaga’s early score from a flowing move.
That was as good as it would get for either side with a physical stop-started contest never really finding its flow with a combination of solid defense and poor execution letting the home side down as chance would be far and far between.
Peel’s side though would show character and resilience to stay in touch with the visitors through the boot of Wales fly-half Sam Costelow and would hold their discipline in the second period before Swart’s late score turned the game on its head.
Whilst not at their most clinical best the Scarlets would be worthy winners with a delighted Peel happy for his players to pick up the win to end their poor run.
“I always felt confident that we would get the try because we were putting them under a lot of pressure,” said Peel.
“As time goes on though you think maybe we have lost our last chance.
“Our maul hasn’t been the best this year and five metres out we got the job done in the end.
“In all honesty, I thought it was deserved because as the game went on, I felt we applied a lot of pressure on them.
“In the first-half, the elements were against us, the wind was against us, and we let them in for a soft try. We should have been closer at half-time with the missed kick opportunity too.
“I’m pleased for the boys to get the win because we’ve been on the wrong end of those losses [against the Lions & Dragons] and they have put a lot of hard work in.
“We spoke today about playing with a bit of heart but also a bit of expression. I think execution-wise we could have been better. We created more than we executed, but we were bold with the ball in the second-half.
“There’s still a lot of points to be played for and for us, it’s about climbing the league as much as we can now over the next period.
“I also want us to play with a bit of endeavor as well. I think at times we did that today. We had a game plan of trying to pin them in a bit, we knew that we could challenge them in the air, and we stuck to that.
“We’ve now got four games at home and a Judgement Day to look forward to, so it was important to get that win to try and build some momentum into next week.
“Glasgow will be difficult buoyed by their international guys returning, but we want to win these games.”
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
