LLANELLI SCARLETS 10 BIARRRITZ OLYMPIQUE 27
Llanelli Scarlets Euroepan dream fell apart once again as they were beaten by a better side at Stradey Park.
The home side had the changes to score, but came up short again in Europe, leaving former skipper Scott Quinell with nothing more than “we have to go back to the drawing board” to say after the match.
In was a hugely disappointing night for 10,000 home fans who saw their beloved Scarlets undone by a rampaging Biarritz pack.
Scarlets coach Gareth Jenkins was once again gracious in defeat. “That is one of the best sides we have ever played in Europe,” said the downcast west walien.
” We gave away two soft tries in the end. We had the opportunities and didn’t take them.
“That is what this tournament is all about. Biarritz has three half chances and took them all. Their lineout, drive and maul was outstanding, it sapped out strength and had an overall affect on how the game was won. They just had that little bit more control in key areas.
It was all Biarritz in the first half. They had 30% of the game in out 22, we were only in theirs once. We were subdued by apprehension and a lot of errors. When we came alive in the second half, it just wasn’t for long enough.
“They were in a comfort zone in the last 10- minutes when we gave away two simple tries. At 15-10 we created a couple of chances, who knows what might have happened if we had taken them. Our first half was our achilles heel.
Patrice Lagisquet knew his side had stifled the opposition, and had a quiet sense of satisfaction during the post-match press conference.
“it was a very difficult game, our forwards made an outstanding performance. They provided good ball for out backs to play with. The first try from Nicolas Brusque was brilliant. For ten or fifteen minutes in the second half. At the beginning of the game, we stopped them form playing, although both teams were well prepared to defend. We changed the way we attacked after 20 minutes, and we played more with our forwards.
“Their huge, Leigh Davies changed their style of play in the second half, we were always defending, we didn’t have enough width to our game. They had two or three occasions to score and we won the game when we stopped the,
“Wewould like to have all our supporters follow us to Bordeaux in the semi-final. It would be great to play Toulouse.
