Scarlets end season with Stradey Park win

Llanelli Scarlets 19 Connacht 10
Gavin Evans scored Llanelli Scarlets’ hundredth try of the season to secure victory over Connacht at Stradey Park. The Wales centre finished a length of the field attack to finally see off the Irish province seven minutes from the end of a disappointing encounter.

It was at least a winning send off for veteran Wales prop John Davies who will hang up his boots this summer following a career that spanned three decades. Davies was handed the honour of leading out the Scarlets for the final game of the season but it was Connacht who were cheering after the opening forty minutes, Mark McHugh’s penalty giving them a shock 3-0 half-time lead.

However, a youthful Scarlets side finally clicked after the break and fly half Ceiron Thomas scored twice in the space of six minutes to finally get his side on their way. Thomas stepped through Connacht’s defence from Barry Davies’s pass inside two minutes of the restart before catching the Irish off guard with a quickly taken penalty to lead 12-3 until the 73rd minute.

Evans broke the deadlock following a break from replacement prop Craig Dunlea, who was shown the yellow card moments later for a professional foul, allowing John Muldoon to crash over for Connacht’s consolation score. However, the night belonged to 38-year-old former Neath prop Davies, who re-emerged from the tunnel to a hero’s send off before embarking on his coaching career at Stradey Park next season.