Scarlets 22, Edinburgh 21
The Scarlets once again secured an all-important victory with a last-gasp penalty – this time kicked by replacement outside half Aled Thomas.
With big wins for Leinster and Ulster earlier in the day a victory for the home side at Parc y Scarlets was key to keep the top four challenge alive.
Despite securing a 19-6 lead Edinburgh hit back to going ahead 19-21 with only minutes remaining on the clock before a penalty came Scarlets’ way giving Thomas the opportunity to snatch a victory.
Scarlets Head Coach Wayne Pivac spoke of his relief to see his side come away with the win after a tense final five minutes; “We’re obviously happy and relieved. It was really important to get a win today with a couple of away games coming up.
“We were certainly disappointed to fall behind 21-19. That was a massive result; there was a big improvement but still some errors clearly.”
Scarlets now move on to face Ulster and Edinburgh away from home whilst the Six Nations campaign continues. Pivac went on to say: “We have a tough few weeks ahead. We’ll take those four points, we’ll go away and work hard.
“We had always targeted the home games during this period until the Six Nations are over; this evening’s game and Treviso. Both are must wins.
“With the two away games we’ll take every point we can. We’ll be fighting hard for every point and trying hard to maximize our opportunities. We want to stay in the top four and not chase the pack like we had to last season.”
The PRO12 will return to Parc y Scarlets on Friday 4th March when the Scarlets take on 12th placed Benetton Treviso.
Scarlets: Michael Collins; Gareth Owen, Regan King, Hadleigh Parkes (c), DTH van der Merwe; Steven Shingler, Rhodri Williams; Phil John, Kirby Myhill, Peter Edwards; George Earle, David Bulbring; Aaron Shingler, Will Boyde, Morgan Allen.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Dylan Evans, Rhodri Jones, Rory Pitman, Steff Hughes, Aled Davies, Aled Thomas, Steff Evans.
Edinburgh: Greig Tonks; Damien Hoyland, Michael Allen, Sam Beard, Tom Brown, Phil Burleigh, Nathan Fowles; Rory Sutherland, Neil Cochrane, John Andress, Anton Bresler, Ben Toolis, Mike Coman (c), Hamish Watson, Cornell Du Preez.
Replacements: George Turner, Allan Dell, Simon Berghan, Alex Toolis, Jamie Ritchie, Sean Kennedy, Blair Kinghorn, Dougie Fife.