By STEFFAN THOMAS
WAYNE Pivac hailed the x-factor impact of new signing Clayton Blommetjies who scored two tries as the Scarlets came from behind to beat Bristol in Carmarthen.
The former Cheetahs full-back thrilled the home crowd with his dazzling footwork and on this evidence will be a big hit in the PRO14.
“Clayton just has this habit of turning up at the right places,” said Pivac.
“He can always sniff the try line and we saw that out there. And we've seen it in training where he's got great footwork and can beat men for fun.
“He's also a very good communicator in defence and that's helping our back three a lot. He's going to add something special and with Leigh Halfpenny also an option at full-back we've got some depth there.
“It was good too see a lot of our younger players have a run out and we are in a good place.”
A brace of tries from Blommetjies, a penalty try and a second half touchdown from wing Tomi Lewis along with three conversions from Dan Jones and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne was enough to seal the win.
The visitors scored three tries of their own through No.8 Jordan Crane, fullback Luke Daniels and centre Alapeti Leiua.
The Scarlets were the first to touch down in a move which began when tighthead Javan Sebastien accelerated through a gap before offloading to scrumhalf Kieran Hardy who was brought down just short of the line.
The ball was recycled to Jones who threw a long pass to Blommetjies who stepped two defenders before sliding over on his debut.
The visitors hit back immediately when Crane muscled his way over the line after a powerful driving lineout.
It was wing Ryan Edwards who set up Bristol's second try when he beat both Williams and Josh Macleod on the outside from 40 metres out before drawing his man to put Daniels over.
Bristol were now in control and scored their third just before the break when Leiua burst through before chipping ahead and showing great pace to finish.
Madigan added the extras meaning Bristol turned around 19-7 ahead at the interval.
With Scarlets beginning to build pressure a couple of powerful carries from returning Wales lock Jake Ball and tight-head Werner Kruger put the West Walians on the front foot. New signing Hidalgo- Clyne put in a neat kick through for Wales Sevens star Lewis to cross at the far-left hand corner. Pivac's side finally got their noses in front due to a controversial penalty try. Captain Steffan Hughes put in a neat kick through which put Bristol winger
Charlie Powell under pressure. The winger eventually spilled the ball forward and in a moment of desperation stopped centre Kieron Fonotia from grounding the ball leaving Nigel Owens no choice but to award a penalty try.
TEAMS
SCARLETS (1st half): Blommetjies; Lewis, Nicholas, Hughes, Williams; Jones, Hardy; Evans, Hughes, Sebastian, Price, Bulbring, Kennedy, Davis, Macleod
(2nd half): Blommetjies; Prydie, Fonotia, Hughes, Lewis; Jones, Hidalgo-Clyne; Price, Elias, Gardiner, Ball, Cummins, Macleod, Davis, Evans, Cassiem
Replacements: T Davies, Kruger, Fawcett, Phillips, Smith, Baldwin, Conbeer
Bristol (1st half): Daniels; Edwards, Leiua, Pisi, Pincus; Madigan, Stirzacker; Thomas, Thacker, Afoa, Joyce, Latta, Jeffries, Smith, Crane
(2nd half): Morahan; Tovey, Hurrell, Piutau, Powell; Sheedy, Uren; Woolmore, Malton, Armstrong, Holmes, Hawkins, Luatua, Heenan, Haining
Replacements: Lay, Lindsay, Dawe, Ehizode, Graham, Fenton- Wells, Randall, Eden, Cullen
Blommetjies sealed the win after Jones chipped over the top of the defensive line before Fonotia gathered to put the former
Cheetahs man over. “I was pleased with how the boys all worked hard for each other and I'm comfortable with where we're at before facing Bath,” said
Bristol coach Pat Lam. “We did really well in the first half but in the second half we had to play into a strong breeze against a quality Scarlets side.”
