Scarlets secure bonus-point win over Zebre

Scarlets (11) 30

Tries: Rogers, Page, Murray, Macleod Cons: Lloyd 2 Pens: Lloyd 2

Zebre (8) 8

Try: Cambriani Drop goal: Prisciantelli

Scarlets continued their impressive form in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with a bonus-point win against Zebre.

Tom Rogers and Ben Cambriani had exchanged tries in an untidy but entertaining first half.

Scarlets took control after the break, with Macs Page, Blair Murray and Josh Macleod all crossing.

Scarlets rise up to fifth in the table as the URC heads into the international break.

It was a third successive win for Dwayne Peel’s side, a feat they had not achieved since February 2023, while Zebre’s wait for an away league victory goes back another two years.

Scarlets had made five changes from the side that heroically beat Bulls last week, with Sam Costelow named at fly-half and Ioan Lloyd reverting to full-back.

Lloyd, who was overlooked by Warren Gatland for Wales’ autumn squad, assumed kicking duties and made no mistake when the first penalty was on offer.

But he was at fault for losing possession after the restart, with the ball finding its way to Geronimo Prisciantelli who showed his Argentine footballing skills to slot over a drop-goal from 30 metres out.

Both sides looked dangerous in open play and Simone Gesi made a break on his wing before some scramble defence saw the ball recycled infield.

Playing with advantage, Giovanni Montemauri put in a cross-field kick which was gathered and taken across the line by Swansea-born Cambriani.

Scarlets went back on the attack and while Zebre cleared their lines, it gave Lloyd space to attack and he made good ground before being hacked down a few metres short of the tryline.

The ball was eventually lost after a breathless passage of play, but Scarlets did salvage another Lloyd penalty.

They re-took the lead just before the half-hour mark when some quick hands from player of the match Eddie James and Taine Plumtree released Rogers, who finished well on his wing despite Gesi’s efforts to drag him into touch.

It gave Scarlets an 11-8 lead heading down the tunnel.

Scarlets returned transformed and the first of three second-half tries came from a brilliant combination from the two centres off line-out ball.

James found Page, who ran a great angle and rightfully backed himself to beat the last man and score.

Scarlets seemed to have found their rhythm and were in soon again, this time Plumtree breaking the line and passing out for Murray to score in the corner.

The forwards got in on the act just before the hour as Zebre’s penalty count started to creep up under pressure.

Sam Lousi took front line-out ball and Macleod wriggled free of the driving maul to bag his side’s bonus point.

Zebre struggled to fire a shot as Scarlets looked comfortable in defence.

It was a job well done for Peel’s side and relief for Gatland as all eight Scarlets in his squad came through unscathed.

Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel told BBC Sport Wales: "Everyone was so frustrated, there were so many unforced errors, we had 11 turnovers in the first half."

"We were turning some good counter attacking opportunities into line beaks, I think we had five line breaks in the first half, we just didn’t finish."

He added: "I didn’t really need to say too much (at half time), I felt we needed to get some energy, we felt we could get them on the counter attack and scored two early tries

"I’m happy with the points obviously, I would have taken that this morning definitely. We have a couple of weeks off now to work on our game. The boys will have a bit of a break this week and then back for three weeks of training ready for Glasgow."

Scarlets: Ioan Lloyd; Tom Rogers, Macs Page, Eddie James, Blair Murray; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies; Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Jac Price, Sam Lousi, Max Douglas, Josh Macleod (capt), Taine Plumtree.

Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Alex Craig, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Nicholas, Johnny Williams.

Zebre: Geronimo Prisciantelli; Ben Cambriani, Luca Morisi, Damiano Mazza, Simone Gesi; Giovanni Montemauri, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti (CAPT), Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Juan Pitinari, Matteo Canali, Andrea Zambonin, Davide Ruggeri, Luca Andreani, Giovanni Licata

Replacements: Luca Bigi, Muhamed Hasa, Ion Neculai, Leonard Krumov, Giacomo Ferrari, Gonzalo Garcia, Enrico Lucchin, Giacomo Da Re

Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU)

Assistant referees: Ben Connor & Matthew Leon (WRU)

TMO: Quinton Immelman (SARU).