In a scoreless first period, the Scarlets had much the better of the play but failed to convert time in the Ospreys twenty-two into points on the scoreboard.
A combination of poor finishing and resolute defending held up Peel’s team, whilst fly-half Ioan Lloyd would spawn several good opportunities from the tee to give his side a cushion at the interval.
The Scarlets would breakthrough with Gareth Davies’ interception try following the restart, but in a 15 period of dominance from the visitors tries from Reuben Morgan-Williams and Sam Parry put the game to bed.
To their credit, the Scarlets fought to the end and came close to levelling with a last-ditch tackle from Luke Morgan denying Ben Williams in the corner.
It would be the Ospreys who would take the bragging rights though with Jack Walsh scoring with the last attack of the game as the Scarlets poured forward to leave Peel frustrated at missed opportunities.
“We spoke before the game about the desire to want to go out there and play. To come in at 0-0 was disappointing as I feel we were dominant in that first period,” said Peel.
“In the first-half territorially we were pretty dominant, but we didn’t finish with the points we should have.
“We then got the try early [in the second-half] but didn’t see much of the ball for 20 minutes and the Ospreys took advantage with those two tries.
“There was a long period where we were in their twenty-two and failed to convert and the time and pressure got on top of us.
“The last try was a bit of ill-execution from us as we had them with the opportunity to play [for the draw]. We forced a pass and tried to do too much in the middle, and they got on top of that in the end.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the changing room around some of those elements of the game. For large periods of the game, it was better from us. It was just the accuracy.
“We are inconsistent, but there are periods in the game that we are good. We need to keep that energy to produce an 80-minute performance.
“It’s important we move onto next week [against the Dragons] and make sure we prepare well and go to Rodney Parade with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. We have to take what was good from this game and build.”
Peel revealed that Sam Costelow is likely to be back for the clash next weekend, whilst he is optimistic that Sam Lousi will be ok after picking up a knock in the second-half.
“I’m hoping he [Sam Costelow] will be ok. He’s sore from training this week and it was a big disappointment for us. I’m hoping he will be ok for next week, continued Peel.
“He [Sam Lousi] was excellent. He does add a different dimension for us after the disappointment of having lost Fifita after the game against Black Lion.
“We knew though that Sam [Lousi] was coming back for this game, and he was good for the period he was on.
“We had to make a change as he felt his calf tighten, which I think is a bit more of fatigue than anything. We will see where that ends up, but we think he is ok.
“I also thought Josh Macleod was excellent as a leader and really abrasive for us. It’s good to have those two back.”
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
