Scarlets deny Edinburgh to maintain impressive home form

Steff Evans made a long-awaited return from an Achilles injury

United Rugby Championship

Scarlets (13) 30

Tries: Van der Merwe, Macleod, Nicholas Cons: Lloyd 3 Pens: Lloyd 3

Edinburgh (12) 24

Tries: Skinner, Harrison, Healy, Morris Cons: Healy 2

Scarlets extended their unbeaten run at home to six games after seeing off Edinburgh in a physical Llanelli encounter.

Manus van der Merwe's try and Ioan Lloyd's boot had given the hosts a healthy lead before Edinburgh hit back through Sam Skinner and Patrick Harrison to make it a one point game at the break.

Josh Macleod and Ioan Nicholas crossed for Scarlets, before late tries from Ben Healy and Harri Morris set up a grandstand finish.

Scarlets held on to their slender lead before Lloyd kicked an 80th minute penalty to secure victory.

Scarlets remain sixth in the United Rugby Championship (URC) table, while Edinburgh are eighth.

Both sides were forced into multiple changes with Scarlets losing seven players and Edinburgh eight to international duty.

Scarlets were boosted by the return of Wales wing Steff Evans after a nine month injury lay-off, while Johnny Williams gave a player of the match performance after being overlooked by Wales head coach Warren Gatland.

Edinburgh welcomed back Ali Price to set up an intriguing British and Irish Lions scrum-half battle with his opposite number Gareth Davies.

They also had Harrison and Matt Currie released from the Scotland Six Nations squad.

In perfect conditions, Lloyd kicked Scarlets into a 6-0 lead after Edinburgh gave away needless penalties – which would prove to be the story of their afternoon.

The first try of the game appeared to come from the visitors. Skinner popped a pass to fellow lock Glen Young who charged through a gap to send Price over in the corner, but his celebrations were cut short when the pass from Skinner was found to be forward.

Edinburgh, who had been on a team warning, were then reduced to 14 players with Harrison sent to the sin bin for offside.

Scarlets kicked upfield and mauled their way to the line, with van de Merwe breaking free to cross for his first try in the URC.

But they were left to kick themselves on the re-start when Gareth Davies was blown up for taking too long to play the ball.

It gifted Edinburgh a promising attacking position and Currie looked certain to score only for Evans to put in a try-saving tackle.

Edinburgh worked the ball across field and this time it was a brave tackle from Macs Page who stopped Boan Venter with the try-line begging.

Scarlets survived that onslaught, but lost Vaea Fifita who saw yellow after a wild swinging arm caught Wes Goosen around the neck.

Edinburgh took full advantage from the driving lineout with the skipper Skinner crashing over from close range.

They were in again in similar fashion on the stroke of half-time, this time Harrison the beneficiary of the maul. Ben Healy missed the conversion as Scarlets held on to a 13-12 lead going down the tunnel.

Scarlets drew first blood after the break as Edinburgh's ill-discipline proved costly.

Scarlets were gifted a five metre lineout and this time it was the skipper Macleod who was driven over in the corner.

They were in again on the hour mark, van der Merwe's tap penalty set up an attack which saw Lloyd feed a flat ball for Nicholas to run onto and score.

But Edinburgh refused to lie down and made the last 10 minutes nervy for the 5,700 home fans.

Playing with advantage, James Lang threw a looping pass out wide which Goosen scooped up and took to the line before laying the ball up for Healy to score in the corner.

Scarlets conceded penalty after penalty as Edinburgh worked their way back up-field to set up a five metre lineout, which proved a deadly weapon in the first half.

And there was to be no stopping the maul with replacement hooker Morris going over to celebrate his first Edinburgh try and a bonus-point for his side.

Healy missed the touchline conversion as Scarlets clung on to their three point lead, then arguably the biggest cheer of the game went for a Macleod turnover which won back possession.

Lloyd wound down the clock with an attempt at posts and it sailed through the Sospans to claim an impressive victory.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: "I'm delighted with the win obviously, that was an important game for us in many respects.

"We sort of down-played the league, didn't speak about it too much, we were just talking about performance and improvements we needed to make.

"We knew Edinburgh were going to come here and give it everything they got and for a large part of the game we were good for the win.

"I'm pleased for the boys because we put a lot of hard work in."

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: "Ultimately if you give away 14 penalties you're going to make life tough for yourselves.

"Credit to Scarlets, they came hard off the line and they put us under pressure.

"Scarlets pinned us down in our own half and we couldn't get field position and when we did get field position we managed to claw our way back into the game.

"Unfortunately an unforced error at the breakdown from the kick-off [at the end] didn't allow us to get field position again, so a bit frustrated, but it was a good effort from the boys."

Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas; Jac Davies, Macs Page, Johnny Williams, Steff Evans; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies; Alec Hepburn, Marnus van der Merwe, Archer Holz, Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Max Douglas, Josh Macleod (capt), Vaea Fifita.

Replacements: Shaun Evans, Sam O'Connor, Gabe Hawley, Jac Price, Taine Plumtree, Efan Jones, Charlie Titcombe, Jarrod Taylor.

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; ⁠Harry Paterson, ⁠Matt Currie, ⁠James Lang, ⁠Lewis Wells;⁠ ⁠Ben Healy, ⁠Ali Price; ⁠Boan Venter, ⁠Paddy Harrison, ⁠Paul Hill, ⁠Glen Young, ⁠Sam Skinner (capt),⁠ ⁠Liam McConnell, ⁠Hamish Watson, ⁠Tom Dodd.

Replacements: Harri Morris, ⁠Robin Hislop, ⁠Javan Sebastian, ⁠Rob Carmichael, ⁠Tom Currie, ⁠Ben Vellacott, ⁠Ross Thompson, ⁠Mosese Tuipulotu.

Referee: Andrea Piardi

Assistant referees: Craig Evans & Aaron Parry

TMO: Matteo Liperini

Sin bin: Harrison (23), Fifita (30)