Scarlets suffered a disappointing 24-15 defeat to Cardiff Rugby in their opening home game of the 2024/25 United Rugby Championship season.
In front of a vocal crowd at Parc y Scarlets, the Scarlets flew out of the blocks, but a series of unforced errors and turnovers allowed the visitors to claw their way back into the contest and eventually run out bonus-point winners.
A try after just 14 seconds by Macs Page on his home debut put the Scarlets in dreamland and a second for Taine Plumtree cemented Scarlets’ early dominance.
But that was as good as it got for Dwayne Peel’s side, who were reduced to 13 men in the second half.
In a breathtaking opening, supporters barely had time to take their seats and the Scarlets were celebrating the game’s opening try.
Cardiff switched the kick-off, Tom Rogers gathered, raced up field and his attempted kick-through ricocheted into the hands of Page who sped to the line unopposed. Costelow converted.
The Scarlets' momentum continued with Costelow adding a penalty on three minutes to take the lead up to 10-00.
It got better with a second try on 10 minutes.
A powerful charge by the impressive Alex Craig took play into the Cardiff 22 and with the visiting defence stretched, a long pass by Costelow found Plumtree out wide, with the No. 8 taking the bouncing pass and touching down.
Cardiff responded on 18 minutes with a try from skipper Liam Belcher after a strong line-out drive. Sheedy pushed his conversion attempt wide, but the visitors were right back in it shortly afterwards with a second, scored by Wales international Mason Grady. Sheedy’s conversion cut the deficit to three points.
Scarlets had plenty of ball and territory in the closing minutes of the half but were unable to shift to the scoreboard as Cardiff’s defence held firm.
It was Cardiff who took control of the match after the break, laying siege to the Scarlets line, leading to yellow cards for Ryan Elias for a dangerous tackle and prop Alec Hepburn following a series of penalties at scrum time.
Cardiff made that numerical advantage pay, crafting a corner try for replacement Harri Millard. Costelow missed a penalty from the tee, then Ben Thomas took advantage of an error in the Scarlets backfield for their bonus-point score.
Belcher himself was shown yellow for a high hit on Johnny Williams, but despite throwing everything at the blue and blacks in the final minutes, Scarlets were unable to finish off the attacks, with loose passes and handling letting them down.
Scorers:
Scarlets: Tries: Macs Page, Taine Plumtree. Conversion: Sam Costelow. Penalty: Sam Costelow.
Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Liam Belcher, Mason Grady, Harri Millard, Dan Thomas. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2).
Teams
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Lloyd, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Macs Page, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (c), 6 Jarrod Taylor, 5 Max Douglas, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias. Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Eddie James, 23 Ellis Mee.
Cardiff Rugby: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Mason Grady, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Iwan Stephens, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Ben Donnell, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (c), 1 Corey Domachowski. Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Harri Millard.
