GLENN Delaney hailed the performance of man-of-thematch Sione Kalamafoni as the Scarlets stuttered to an unconvincing home win over the Dragons.
In a dire game at Parc y Scarlets, giant Tongan No.8 Kalamafoni pulled his side over the line with his destructive ball carrying as they struggled to break down their resilient visitors. And Delaney insists the former Gloucester and Leicester star is worth his weight in gold.
“In a game like this where it's in the balance you need someone like that to step up and give you that platform”, said Delaney.
“He has all these big moments in games and that's why we wanted him. We feel he could really add to the attacking intent and give us a genuine carrying difference.
“Sione has been doing that for a long time. He's a real galvaniser and he brings everyone with him. It was a compelling contest of a different nature.
“The derby games are pretty unique, and they bring out the best and the worst in all of us.”
Two second half tries from Kalamafoni and replacement outside-half Sam Costelow were enough for the Scarlets to claim victory. Dan Jones and Costelow also kicked ten points between them while all the Dragons could muster was three points from the boot of Josh Lewis.
Dragons opened the scoring after 13 minutes when Lewis slotted a penalty after Javan Sebastian was offside.
Dragons were full of confidence and sent the Scarlets defence into disarray when Wales squad member Jonah Holmes burst 50 metres up field after cutting inside Tyler Morgan. But he was eventually brought down, and the ball was turned over by the Scarlets who cleared their lines. The Scarlets edged back in front with two Jones penalties to hold a 6-3 lead at the interval.
Delaney's side began the second half with renewed purpose as they lay siege to the Dragons try line with second row Matthew Screech sent to the sin bin for tackling a player without the ball.
Nigel Owens reached into his pocket for the yellow card – and discovered it wasn't there! “It's a yellow, though”, said the ref.
But the home side finally crossed the whitewash in the 57th minute when a five-metre lineout was taken by Tevita Ratuva who tapped onto Dan Davis, with the openside cleverly sending Kalamafoni over from short range.
One powerful burst into the Scarlets 22 by Jack Dixon threatened to bring the Dragons back into the game but the ball was turned over by Ratuva.
Scarlets sealed their win with a terrific individual try from Costelow who dummied and went 30 metres to score a try which he converted himself.
“I was proud of our performance”, said Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan. “We knew what we were doing, and we were very physical.
“This is one of those weeks where I'm really proud to be involved with this side. I can't allow our lives to be defined by our win loss ratio.”
By STEFFAN THOMAS
Scarlets v Dragons – player ratings
SCARLETS: O'Brien 6; Prydie 5, Morgan 5 (Asquith 29, 6), Hughes (c) 5, Evans 6; D Jones 6 (Costelow 65, 7), Hardy 6 (Davies 50, 7); W Jones 6 (Price 25-37, 46, 5), Elias 6 (M Jones 37, 6), Sebastian 5 (Scholtz 53, 5), Ball 5 (Ratuva 16, 8), Lousi 6, Thomson 6, Davis 5 (Kennedy 71, 5), Kalamafoni 9
DRAGONS: Holmes 7 (Owen 37, 7); Jenkins 5, Tompkins 5, Dixon 7, Hewitt 5; Lewis 6, Knoyle 5 (Williams 63, 5); Harris 7 (Jarvis 63, 5), Dee 7 (Hibbard 63, 6), Brown 8 (Fairbrother 73, 5), Carter 7 (Davies 53, 5), Screech 5, Keddie (c) 7, Basham 6 (Taylor 25, 5), Wainwright 6
Not used: Lloyd
REFEREE: Nigel Owens
ATTENDANCE: 0
Star man: Sione Kalamafoni – Scarlets
