Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac believes his team are paying a painful price for their back row injury crisis.
Last season’s Guinness Pro 14 finalists lost 33-20 at Connacht – their second defeat in their opening four matches – where they were outflanked without a specialist openside in their line-up.
With James Davies heading up a long list of injured flankers, Pivac admitted: “We’re hurt without a seven at the moment; it’s one of our strengths, slowing ball down and turning ball over. We weren’t able to do that today.
“We’re not playing our best rugby. We’d like to be playing a lot better than we are but we need to improve in some of these areas.
“Without much ball and territory, we felt that we had an opportunity to win at 26-20 but we turned over some possession and got punished.
“There are no excuses. Connacht were better than us today and sometimes you just have to say well done to the opposition. Connacht fully deserved that win and we’re very disappointed that we didn’t get any points.”
Niyi Adeolokun’s late try put the seal on Connacht’s rousing win at the Sportsground, with Bundee Aki and 18-point fly-half Jack Carty starring for the winners.
The westerners held the edge at the end of an entertaining first half, leading 20-13 thanks to Tom Farrell and Cian Kelleher tries and Carty’s accuracy with the boot. Johnny McNicholl added a try to Leigh Halfpenny’s two penalties for the visitors.
Carty knocked over two penalties, and although Tom Prydie’s seven-pointer put last season’s runners-up right back in the hunt, Adeolokun’s effort from a Caolin Blade turnover earned Connacht’s first victory in four meetings against the men in red.
The Dragons celebrated a much-needed victory as they climbed off the bottom of the Guinness PRO14 Conference B with a dogged 16-5 win over Italian outfit Zebre – although coach Bernard Jackman insisted they have turned a deaf ear to their critics.
“If you start panicking because of outside criticism or people doubting you then you will stray away from your philosophy and you have no chance of getting there,” said Jackman.
“We weren’t panicking, and wouldn’t have if we had lost today, but it just makes life easier. The boys will have a smile on their face on Monday and we have another win under our belt.
“We know that there is a huge amount of things that we need to fix; we will fix them but it’s nice to do that on the back of winning four points.”
Fly-half Arwel Robson scored a try and penalty, while wing Dafydd Howells also crossed for the hosts. Zebre wing Mattia Bellini touched down for the visitors as the Dragons went into the break 13-5 up.
A single second-half score, a penalty from full-back Jordan Williams, saw the Welsh region home to add to their win early in the month against South Africa’s Southern Kings.
Ospreys coach Allen Clarke was also pleased with his team’s 27-10 victory over Benetton at the Liberty Stadium which lifted them back up to second place in Conference A.
Sam Davies’ tally of 17 points meant three wins out of four for the Welsh regions over the weekend.
Clarke said: “We are pleased with the result and feel it was a decent reflection of the game.
“It was a big defensive shift from us which is important at home where we have maintained the momentum.
“It was job done and we move on and try and put in a similar and even improved performance against Zebre next weekend.”