By Gareth James
The Scarlets miserable season continued as they were beaten 31-19 in their fourth and final EPCR Challenge Cup pool match as 13-man Edinburgh romped into the Round of 16.
This latest defeat left the Scarlets anchored to the bottom of Pool 3 as they were outgunned by five tries to three.
In doing so they became the first Welsh region to fail to register a point in a European campaign.
“I was disappointed with the first half, we gave them too many soft points. Physically they dominated the middle of the field and we couldn’t get speed of ball,” admitted Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel.
“That ultimately hurt us, although when we did get speed of ball we did get to the edges. The likes of Joe Roberts looked threatening and Tomi Lewis is coming on as well.
“We piggy-backed them up the field and that’s the disappointing part for me. We have got to get better than that.”
FINAL SCORE | SGÔR TERFYNOL
🔴 Scarlets 19
🏰 Edinburgh Rugby 31A big thanks to everyone who came out and supported in this bitterly cold weather 👏
Diolch i bawb a ddaeth i gefnogi ni heno yn y tywydd oer.#SCAvEDI #challengecuprugby pic.twitter.com/oiPDqNxFgh— Scarlets Rugby (@scarlets_rugby) January 19, 2024
Edinburgh finished with 13 players as Grant Gilchrist was given a second yellow card in the 72nd minute.
Then the visitors lost Scotland and British & Irish Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe to the sin bin at the end of the game.
Earlier, hooker Dave Cherry was also shown a yellow card which meant Edinburgh played almost 30 minutes with 14 men and then a couple with only 13..
HALF TIME | HANNER AMSER
🔴 Scarlets 5
🏰 Edinburgh Rugby 26#SCAvEDI #ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/bKqThkC2ev— Scarlets Rugby (@scarlets_rugby) January 19, 2024
Ben Vellacott, WP Nel, Duhan van de Merwe, Hamish Watson and Schoeman scored the visitors’ tries, while Roberts and Ryan Conbeer scored for Scarlets, who were also awarded a penalty try at the death.
Edinburgh needed a bonus-point win to guarantee them a play-off lace and they got off to the perfect star when scrum half Vellacott crashed over in their first visit to the Scarlets 22. A few minutes later Nel got another.
They had bagged the bonus-point just after the half-hour mark and it was 26-5 in Edinburgh’s favour at the break. It was a similar story in the second half as Edinburgh maintained their advantage as Schuman bagged another try three minutes after the interval.
Scarlets at least gained some respect on the scoreboard with two tries in the final four minutes, but it was much too little far too late.
What has happened to Dwayne Peel’s side?
Last season they reached the semi-final of the Challenge Cup, tonight the Scarlets exit the European competition at the bottom of Pool B with zero points 🫣#BBCRugby pic.twitter.com/UpC4WSupKR
— BBC ScrumV (@BBCScrumV) January 19, 2024