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Les joueurs de Llanelli compteront sur leur public et le retour de plusieurs cadres pour prendre leur revanche sur les Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow Warriors director of rugby Gregor Townsend has warned his stars to be wary of a wounded Scarlets side.
The former Scotland star saw his side thump the West Walians 43-6 at Scotstoun last weekend, with giant wing Taqele Naiyaravoro crossing for a hat-trick of tries. The Warriors’ first triumph of this season’s Champions Cup campaign has put them back in the race for the quarter-finals, but they will have to do it all again at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday to maintain their charge.
The Scarlets have been left counting the cost of a long injury list, with three defeats in their first three matches. Glasgow’s defeat of Wayne Pivac’s side has given them five points from two matches, after their home defeat to Northampton Saints in round two. A second win in as many weeks would put them back amongst Racing 92 and the Saints at the summit of this tight pool. But Townsend knows they are in for a tougher test in west Wales.
He said: “It will be much tougher. They have a fantastic home record and have lost just once in their last 15 matches there. They’ll be fired up and will also have some of their main guys back. We must win at least three of our last four games to have a chance.”
“We saw the Scarlets team and we felt it was still very strong. Yes, there was no DTH, John Barclay, James Davies, but that backline was strong and you also had Samson Lee and Rhodri Jones, who are both Welsh international tight-heads. There were some quality players in there and they were tough to break down.”
Emyr Phillips was acting captain during last week’s heavy defeat, but he is hoping to turn it around in-front of the Scarlets fans.
He said: “It's really disappointing with the league form going so well, we're disappointed we've fallen off in Europe. We’ve got to play Glasgow again in a short turn-around, so hopefully we can put that right before getting into a big Christmas campaign.”
The former Scotland star saw his side thump the West Walians 43-6 at Scotstoun last weekend, with giant wing Taqele Naiyaravoro crossing for a hat-trick of tries. The Warriors’ first triumph of this season’s Champions Cup campaign has put them back in the race for the quarter-finals, but they will have to do it all again at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday to maintain their charge.
The Scarlets have been left counting the cost of a long injury list, with three defeats in their first three matches. Glasgow’s defeat of Wayne Pivac’s side has given them five points from two matches, after their home defeat to Northampton Saints in round two. A second win in as many weeks would put them back amongst Racing 92 and the Saints at the summit of this tight pool. But Townsend knows they are in for a tougher test in west Wales.
He said: “It will be much tougher. They have a fantastic home record and have lost just once in their last 15 matches there. They’ll be fired up and will also have some of their main guys back. We must win at least three of our last four games to have a chance.”
“We saw the Scarlets team and we felt it was still very strong. Yes, there was no DTH, John Barclay, James Davies, but that backline was strong and you also had Samson Lee and Rhodri Jones, who are both Welsh international tight-heads. There were some quality players in there and they were tough to break down.”
Emyr Phillips was acting captain during last week’s heavy defeat, but he is hoping to turn it around in-front of the Scarlets fans.
He said: “It's really disappointing with the league form going so well, we're disappointed we've fallen off in Europe. We’ve got to play Glasgow again in a short turn-around, so hopefully we can put that right before getting into a big Christmas campaign.”
Match Facts
- Glasgow Warriors managed to buck the trend and win their first ever match against Scarlets (L4) in the Champions Cup when they won 43-6 in the third round.
- This will be the Glasgow Warriors’ 100th match in the Champions Cup (W32, D2, L65).
- The Warriors’ win over Scarlets in round 3 was their biggest ever win in the Champions Cup, beating their previous best by 10 points (37-10 v Bath in 2014).
- Glasgow Warriors have averaged more clean breaks (13) and defenders beaten (26) than any other side so far this season.
Le centième match européen des Warriors s'est soldé par une autre victoire sur Llanelli (9-6). Les Ecossais peuvent encore croire à une qualification pour la phase finale. Pas les Gallois. - 19/12/2015 22:05
Glasgow Warriors marked their 100th game in the European Cup by doing the double over Guinness PRO12 rivals the Scarlets to stay in the hunt for a quarter-final place in the Champions Cup.
In appalling conditions at Parc y Scarlets, Gregor Townsend’s team celebrated their century with four points and also made it back-to-back victories in the middle of the pool stages for the first time in 15 seasons as they triumphed 9-6.
But they were forced to dig deep in the second half when they were reduced to 13 men for seven minutes after ex-Scarlets player Sean Lamont and back row man Chris Fusaro were both sent to the sin-bin by French official Pascal Gauzere in the pace of three minutes.
Lamont got his marching orders for playing the ball on the floor after a tackle and then Fusaro followed him into the bin for a late charge on Thomas after he had kicked ahead.
The win means the reigning PRO12 champions are back in the hunt for a quarter-final place after losing their opening game at home against Northampton Saints. They now sit in third place in Pool 3, one point behind Saints, with a game in hand, and three behind Racing 92, who they still have to play home and away.
The torrential rain meant there was never any likelihood of a repeat of the try-fest at Scotstoun the previous weekend and the first half turned into a battle of the kickers. Finn Russell hit the mark with two out of three of his penalty attempts, while Thomas was wide with his one shot.
The Scarlets lost Thomas to the sin-bin after 28 minutes for cynically knocking the ball out of the hands of his opposite number Russell in a tackle, but the home side only conceded three points while he was off the field.
The game was still finely balanced at the break with the visitors 6-0 to the good and Russell extended the lead to nine points with his third success five minutes after the restart. Then came the yellow cards and Thomas got the Scarlets off the mark with a penalty shortly after Lamont went off and then added a second moments before Fusaro returned.
That left the home side with 13 minutes to try to find a way to win the game and add to their one point from three games. Thomas had a 45 metre kick at goal six minutes from the end, but pushed his kick wide.
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