United Rugby Championship: Cardiff 23-29 Scarlets - Dwayne Peel's side complete double

Scarlets players celebrate the bonus-point try scored by Steff Evans

Scarlets completed a United Rugby Championship (URC) double over 14-man Cardiff with a bonus-point away win.

Cardiff flanker Ellis Jenkins was shown a 28th minute red card for a dangerous tip tackle on Dan Davis.

Captain Gareth Davies scored two tries with further scores from Alex Craig, Steff Evans and Johnny McNicholl.

Cardiff had held an early 14-0 lead through tries from Tomos Williams and Cameron Winnett, while Tinus de Beer added 13 points.

This was only Scarlets' second win of the season in seven games after they defeated Cardiff in Llanelli in early November.

The Arms Park is a happy hunting ground for the west Wales team with Scarlets only losing one of their last six games against Cardiff and their last away victory in URC was in Cardiff in January.

In front of a crowd of 8,282, Scarlets fly-half Ioan Lloyd helped orchestrate the win as he again showed his Wales credentials ahead of the 2024 Six Nations, while his half-back partner Davies was also outstanding.

Adams return

Wales wing Josh Adams returned for his first Cardiff game this season following a shoulder injury suffered in Wales' World Cup quarter-final defeat by Argentina in October.

Adams was one of four returning Wales internationals with scrum-half Tomos Williams, lock Teddy Williams and prop Keiron Assiratti also starting, with young number eight Mackenzie Martin making his first Cardiff start.

Scarlets made two changes with flanker Davis coming back from a hamstring injury to replace Teddy Leatherbarrow, while centre Eddie James was included instead of Joe Roberts.

The visitors made a poor start after a not straight line-out throw and scrum penalty gave Cardiff the platform for a rampaging driving maul that was pulled down just short before scrum-half Williams dived over.

Five minutes later, another well-worked set-piece move was finished out wide with full-back Winnett easing over.

Scarlets responded with their opening try created by a scything break from centre Johnny Williams to set up supporting scrum-half and captain Davies.

Fly-half Lloyd converted before producing a gliding break from his own line to continue the visitors' momentum as they bombarded the Cardiff line with lock Craig burrowing over after also scoring against the same opposition last month. Lloyd missed the conversion which would have levelled the scores.

Scarlets were inspired with captain Davies launching another attack before an important tackle from Cardiff centre Rey Lee-Lo on his opposite number Williams.

Red mist

Ellis Jenkins was shown his first red card in his career for this tackle on opposite number Dan Davis

Tensions were raised when Jenkins' tip tackle on opposite number Davis resulted in a melee between players from both sides.

Referee Ben Whitehouse looked at the incident with his officials on the big screen and deemed the tackle was worthy of a red card. Jenkins looked distraught by the decision and apologised to Davis before trudging off the field.

Scarlets took advantage of the extra man with clever work from Lloyd and full-back McNicholl releasing Davies for his second score and giving Peel's side a 19-14 half-time lead.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland was not in attendance as he has flown back to New Zealand, but former Top Gear television presenter Richard Hammond was in the Cardiff crowd.

Rugby league legend and current England rugby union defence coach Kevin Sinfield also arrived at the Arms Park pitch at half-time on his own grand tour after completing the second leg of his latest challenge to support those suffering with motor neurone disease (MND).

Sinfield, who has raised millions for charities since ex-Leeds team-mate Rob Burrow was diagnosed with the condition in 2019, is this time running 27 miles each day for seven days in seven cities.

The Arms Park was the finishing point of his second day of another remarkable challenge and Sinfield was greeted by Cardiff and Wales legend Sir Gareth Edwards.

When the second-half action started, Fifita was penalised for a high tackle on Martin with De Beer slotting over the kick.

Martin proved an influential figure early in the second half with some powerful breaks before he spilled the ball over the Scarlets line as a try went begging.

Cardiff continued to dominate the third quarter with De Beer slotting over his second penalty to restore the hosts' lead.

This breathed life into the sleepy Scarlets with another well-worked move allowing wing Evans to cross for the bonus-point try after the overlap had been cleverly created.

Scarlets extended their lead with an excellent team try that was finished by McNicholl with Lloyd's third missed conversion the only blot on his copybook.

De Beer missed a simple penalty to bring Cardiff back within a score before sending over another attempt a couple of minutes, later but there was to be no famous Cardiff comeback on this occasion.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt: "We started the game on fire but the red card undoubtedly had a bearing on the game.

"To stick in it for just over 50 minutes with 14 men and get a point out of it shows the character of the team.

"I would not say I am pleased but it is the seventh game we have got something from this season."

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel: "I am delighted with the win. I think it was well deserved.

"A lot of people had questioned us after the defeat to the Ospreys, so I am glad to see the reaction.

"We played some good stuff. We carried harder and gave our backs opportunities to play.

"Ioan Lloyd was outstanding for us at fly-half. He is box office and lit up the game."

Cardiff: Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Mason Grady; Tinus de Beer, Tomos Williams; Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Seb Davies, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Ellis Jenkins, Mackenzie Martin.

Replacements: Evan Lloyd, Rhys Carré, Rhys Litterick, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Josh Turnbull, Ellis Bevan, Jacob Beetham, Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Steff Evans; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies (capt); Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Harri O'Connor, Alex Craig, Jac Price, Vaea Fifita, Dan Davis, Carwyn Tuipulotu.

Replacements: Shaun Evans, Steff Thomas, Joe Jones, Morgan Jones, Teddy Leatherbarrow, Kieran Hardy, Charlie Titcombe, Ioan Nicholas.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Assistant referees: Rhys Jones & Gwyn Morris (WRU)

TMO: Wayne Davies (WRU).

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