Heartbreak for Scarlets as Van Wyk try steals it

By SIMON THOMAS

Scarlets …………23pts

Tries: Rogers 17, Elias 68

Conversions: Lloyd 18, 69

Penalties: Lloyd 3, 48, 54

Lions……………… 24pts

Tries: Louw 21, Botha 51, Van Wyk 76

Conversions: Nohamba 21, 52, 78

Penalties: Nohamba 74

THE Scarlets suffered late misery as they went down to a third defeat of the season at the hands of South African opposition in the URC.

They looked to have the game won only for wing Steff Evans to have an attempted clearing kick charged down four minutes from time, allowing centre Henco van Wyk to cross, with Sanele Nohamba slotting the decisive conversion.

It was a bitter pill for the home side to swallow after they had led for virtually the whole match.

Head coach Dwayne Peel said: “We are bitterly disappointed because it was a game we had in the bag. For large parts we were the better side, but we had a few basic fundamental errors and we were not accurate in the last 10 minutes.

“We only have ourselves to blame – it is four points that have gone begging.”

With Wales fly-half Sam Costelow sidelined until the new year after sustaining a hamstring tear and a shoulder issue against the Barbarians last weekend, the Scarlets are going to be heavily reliant on Ioan Lloyd over the next couple of months.

That extended game time will in turn hand the 22-year-old a chance to push for a spot in the Welsh squad for the Six Nations, which was one of the main motivating factors behind his move from Bristol over the summer.

He certainly won't have done his chances any harm on that front with the piece of magic he produced on 17 minutes to pave the way for the opening try. Setting off on a dummying, dancing run, he stepped his way through the Lions defence for the crucial line break ahead of Vaea Fifita putting wing Tom Rogers over in the left corner.

Lloyd converted to add to his early penalty and came tantalisingly close to setting up another score with a show and go dart later in the half, only for a defender to get a hand in to deny Rogers a second.

As it turned out, the only other try in the first half went to the Lions, with their centre skipper Marius Louw spotting a gap off a ruck and scampering straight through under the posts to make it 10-7.

The team from Johannesburg briefly went in front for the first time when hooker PJ Botha burrowed over after a series of forward carries, only for Lloyd's boot to restore the hosts' lead going into the final quarter.

Fit-again Wales hooker Ryan Elias then marked his first appearance since the World Cup by rounding off a well marshalled rolling maul for the try that seemed to have sealed the spoils. But, in the dying minutes, wing Richard Kriel charged down Evans and sent Van Wyk over to secure the visitors' first win of the season.