Pro14: Scarlets 12-20 Edinburgh - Van der Walt's 15-point haul seals vital away win
- Published
Jonathan Davies scored the second of two first-half Scarlets tries
Pro14 |
|---|
Scarlets (12) 12 |
Tries: G Davies, J Davies Cons: Halfpenny |
Edinburgh (0) 20 |
Tries: Scott, Van der Walt Cons: Van der Walt 2 Pens: Van der Walt 2 |
Edinburgh fly-half Jaco van der Walt inspired a second-half comeback against Scarlets with a 15-point haul to improve his team's hopes of a Pro14 play-off place.
Tries from Wales duo Gareth Davies and Jonathan Davies gave Scarlets a 12-0 half-time lead.
Edinburgh responded with tries from Matt Scott and Van der Walt, who also added 10 points with the boot.
Edinburgh are still fourth in Conference B, Scarlets remain fifth.
Benetton stay third after a 27-27 draw against leaders Leinster in Dublin, which left them seven points ahead of Scarlets and one above Edinburgh with two rounds left.
The teams are battling to finish in the top three to reach the play-offs while a fourth spot will result in a place in the Champions Cup play-off match.
Edinburgh host second-placed Ulster on Friday, 12 April, while Scarlets entertain Zebre the following day. Scarlets need to win both their games and hope other results go their way in their quest for play-off rugby and European qualification.
Home coach Wayne Pivac welcomed back six of Wales' Grand Slam-winning squad to his starting side.
Skipper Ken Owens, prop Rob Evans, scrum-half Gareth Davies, centres Jonathan Davies and Hadleigh Parkes and wing Steff Evans were recalled in a team showing eight changes from their 41-17 defeat by Cardiff Blues.
There was no room for out-of-favour Wales pivot Rhys Patchell in the 23-man squad.
Edinburgh made two changes after losing to Munster in the Champions Cup quarter finals, with centres Mark Bennett and Scott replacing James Johnstone and Chris Dean.
Dean was a late withdrawal with Scott coming into start, while former Scarlets flanker John Barclay returned from injury to face his former side.
Scarlets dominated the opening exchanges and celebrated a well-worked try for scrum-half Davies after Halfpenny made an incisive break from Dan Jones' inside pass. Halfpenny converted.
The hosts produced a stunning second try with wing Johnny McNicholl latching on to a clever 22m drop-out from Dan Jones.
The flowing move was eventually finished by centre Davies following a slip pass from Owens and left-wing sprint from Steff Evans.
Barclay and Owens clashed heads with the Scarlets skipper temporarily leaving the field for blood treatment.
Owens was only back on the field a couple of minutes before he was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul but Van der Walt missed a penalty as Scarlets led at the interval.
Barclay was given a standing ovation from Scarlets supporters after being replaced by Magnus Bradbury before Van der Walt opened the Edinburgh scoring with a penalty.
Scarlets almost scored a superb third try with Jonathan Davies and McNicholl combining down the right-hand touchline before the flowing move was halted when referee George Clancy penalised Halfpenny for a neck roll.
The visitors' pressure told when centre Scott scythed through the Scarlets defence from short-range after a driving line-out.
Van der Walt converted and the the South Africa-born fly-half popped up for an interception in what proved the game's pivotal moment.
The fly-half seized a loose Halfpenny pass and sprinted 60m to score before converting and added a penalty to take Edinburgh two scores clear.
Scarlets paid for second-half indiscipline as they were repeatedly penalised and even failed to pick up a losing bonus point.
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac: "I have not had a chance to speak to the referee yet. I would just ask him why there were quite a few things coming through the earpiece and ignored.
"We didn't get too many decisions going our way during the second half, which was disappointing.
"I was happy with the first half and the way the boys were controlling the game but we lost our way after half-time.
"Clearly our hopes have been affected mathematically. There are 10 points up for grabs (against Zebre and Dragons) and we have to make sure we take them and hopes other things go our way."
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill: "I was a bit disappointed with the first-half performance and we had a few tough words as a group.
"To be fair, the reaction to win that second half 20-zip is a massive half of rugby for us as a club because we're not used to being that resilient and coming back and getting those big wins.
"It's still in our hands. That puts us six points above Scarlets with two games to go. It's not all lost for them and it's certainly not all lost for us."
Scarlets: Halfpenny; McNicholl, J Davies, Parkes, S Evans; D Jones, G Davies; R Evans, Owens (capt), Lee, Rawlins, Cummins, Boyde, J Davies, Cassiem.
Replacements: M Jones, W Jones, Kruger, Helps, Macleod, Hardy, Fonotia, Nicholas.
Edinburgh: Graham; Hoyland, Bennett, Scott, van der Merwe; van der Walt, Pyrgos; Schoeman, McInally (capt), WP Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Barclay, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: Ford, Sutherland, Berghan, Hunter-Hill, Bradbury, Shiel, Hickey, G Taylor.
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)
Assistant referees: Joy Neville (IRFU), Eddie Hogan O'Connell (IRFU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)