Wayne Pivac has revealed his Scarlets teams were driven by the fear factor in their 26-15 bonus-point victory over the Cardiff Blues on Friday night.
The New Zealander admitted that losing to the Blues at home last season was “an embarrassment” and they were determined to make amends.
Back in April, the Scarlets lost 28-22 to the Blues – hardly a thumping – but an indignity, according to Pivac that his players were keen to put right.
The New Zealander – whose team have leapfrogged the Blues and are up to sixth in the Guinness Pro 12 table – said: “It was an important game as last year they were the only side to beat us twice and really they embarrassed us at home.
“That played on our minds and we talked about that in the week. It was a must win game clearly with us five points off the Blues, what we didn’t want to do was sink further back from that top six.
“What we wanted to do was come and front up in the forwards and have that superiority hopefully go through the whole team. We started really well, we won a lot of shoulder contact, got a lot of quick ball, scored early, which is exactly what we were trying to achieve.”
It was a match that had plenty of incident, much of it stemming from rookie Irish referee Lloyd Linton.
BBC TV pundit and former Wales international Martyn Williams said: “I don’t like to say it about referees, but he has had an absolute shocker.”
Linton sent Scarlets flanker Aaron Shingler to the sin bin, even though the offence – a tackle off the ball – was committed on the forward by his brother, Blues fly-half Steve Shingler.
Linton also angered the Blues by not awarding them a penalty try after a succession of scrum penalties.
Blues coach Danny Wilson called for more experienced officials for derby matches, but admitted that was not the cause for his team’s defeat.
Linton, 28, works for the Scottish Rugby Union and was also involved in controversy at the Arms Parks two seasons ago when Connacht coach Pat Lam reacted furiously to Linton’s decision to award a late penalty try.
Wilson said: “These are huge games – they are games for experienced referees.
“In saying that, young referees need their opportunities, but tonight I don’t want to get too far away from crediting the Scarlets and we’ve got to look at ourselves.
“That’s the reason the result has gone the way it’s gone.
“I agree there were plenty of talking points. Plenty of match-affecting talking points, but I’m not going to take away from the Scarlets.”
The Scarlets recorded a fourth Pro12 win in a row, while the Blues are travelling in the opposite direction after their third successive defeat.
An open first half saw Scarlets notch three tries – Aaron Shingler, Jonathan Evans and DTH van der Merwe all dotting down – to their hosts’ one through Tom James.
Hadleigh Parkes then appeared to put the visitors out of sight shortly after the interval and despite Blaine Scully’s spectacular finish giving the Blues a glimmer of hope, they ultimately suffered a third Guinness Pro 12 defeat in a row for the first time since November 2015.
The Scarlets now welcome leaders Glasgow to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday 5th November and will be looking to build on four victories on the bounce.
Pivac added: “Whatever side they bring we know it’ll be quality. They’ve been in the top four the last few seasons and have won it so we have full respect for Glasgow.
“What we need to do is have a good look at this performance, in particular the second half, the amount of penalties we gave away. We need to make sure we don’t repeat that.”