Scarlets v Aironi (Sun) 4 September Kick-off: 1600 BST

Scarlets v Aironi (Sun)
Gareth Maule has challenged Scarlets' younger players to deliver this season Prop Iestyn Thomas captains Scarlets as they open their Pro12 season at home to Italians Aironi on Sunday.

Seven players, including senior fly-halves Rhys Priestland and Stephen Jones, are on Wales World Cup duty, while Matthew Rees is injured.

Dan Newton takes the 10 shirt and partners Rhodri Williams at half-back.

Aironi have 10 players with Italy for the World Cup, so there are debuts for full-back Ruggero Trevisan and South African fly-half Naas Olivier.

Wing Riccardo Pavan is also in line to make his debut and if his twin brother, Gilberto, comes off the bench, they will be the first ever set of twin brothers to play together in a Celtic Rugby or RaboDirect Pro12 game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14737845.stm

Scarlets: Daniel Evans; Lee Williams, Rhodri Gomer Davies, Aled Thomas, Andy Fenby; Dan Newton, Rhodri Williams; Iestyn Thomas (capt), Emyr Phillips, Rhys Thomas, Aaron Shingler, Dominic Day, Rob McCusker, Josh Turnbull, Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Phil John, Simon Gardiner, Lou Reed, Richie Pugh, Justin James, Rhys Jones, Adam Warren.

Airioni: Ruggero Trevisan; Riccardo Pavan, Roberto Quartaroli, Gabriel Pizarro, Giovanbattista Venditti; Naas Olivier, Tito Tebaldi; Matias Aguero, Roberto Santamaria (capt), Luca Redolfini, Joshua Furno, George Biagi, Josh Sole, Nicola Cattina, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Davide Giazzon, Alberto De Marchi, Fabio Staibano, Filippo Ferrarini, Fran Viljoen, Giorgio Bronzini, Alberto Benettin, Gilberto Pavan.

Referee: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)

Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Greg Morgan (both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: Richard Gwynn (WRU)

Television match official: Tony Rowlands (WRU)
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soooooo nervous and excited for this! heading off to catch a train down to Llanelli in a bit.

Fingers crossed tis a good game of rugby, but with both teams missing so many players, I can see a fair few errors creeping into this match.

Sooooooo, boring so far

Is Maule injured? The Scarlets centres have been awful (along with most of there backs) - bet they cant wait for the WC to finish.

I thought Aironi were slightly hard done by. I could be wrong but the phase before they lost the lead and Tebaldi to the bin i thought that the Scarlets firstly knocked on the lineout and then two of their players rucked correctly but then flopped over off their feet on the Aironi side. Not sure what penalty was given to Scarlets for but resulted in 3 points and the loss of a man to Aironi. Terrible game to watch but to be fair the conditions look atrocious!

Lovely run up the middle by Aironi, but you can see they're not used to being in that situation and managed to conspire with Scarlets to snuff their own advantage out.

Another sideline run ruined by a meaty chip and chase that went far too long. Scarlets should be worried about the chances they're letting Aironi have.

I hope Aironi play like this next week! They don't look great.

Scarlets don't either but at least they look like they can hurt team once they get pas the first few phases. The better side.

The scarlets are lucky they have Aironi and home first up, they are very rusty and most other teams would have taken advantage of it.

I thought scarlets should have went for the try rather than that last penalty. 2nd try up but i can see them getting 2 more. They do look rusty but i suspect they would have wanted 5 points from this. Still the weather has hindered them massively in this regard

Game over, job done, plenty to work on.

Scarlets should have run the legs off Aironi and gone for 4 tries, instead they seemed to get in to an arm wrestle.

I know the conditions were not great but this is a game they would have targeted as a 5 pointer.

Scarlets have their forwards to thank for the win as evidenced by the solid set-piece.

The backs were not poor, they were dreadful. Inexperience cannot be used as an excuse for such failure at executing the most basic of basics, namely passing, handling and not falling over in defence. The weather can hardly be used as an excuse as we're much more used to these conditions than the Italians, yet they seemed to handle better for much of the time.

It's games like this that have to make you question player development in some quarters of Wales, namely going back to Richard Webster's comments last season.

I managed to go to the stadium and see the game. I got there at 14:30 and it was boiling hot, I was debating whether to take my coat or not, but decided it was so hot I couldn't be bothered to carry the bloody thing around with me. bought my program, bought my ticket and went for a pint in the barn, I come out at about 15:30 and it was freezing cold, the sun had dissapeared behind some clouds, then it started to píss down!
Scampered back to my car quickly and got my coat!

Got in the stadium and found my seat then shock horror! I hard the loudest thundering voice (in welsh) and looked up and saw a greasy looking guy, who had on a XXXXXXXXL Scarlets rugby top, carrying a pint in each hand and walking towards me! This guy was about the size of a large elephant.
After saying a quick prayer "Please lord do not let this guy be sat next to me, really, please dont let this guy sit next to me, he will probably have an arse cheek taking up my seat"
Thankfully he realised he was in the wrong row, and went 2 up behind me!

Fun and terror aside, the lashing rain ruined any chance of a good game to be honest, I think the Scarlets got caught out by it, I noticed so many of them slipping in the first half, especially off the ball. Personally I think they had short studs in their boots and struggled for grip, and changed over to longer ones in the second half. I can't confirm this, but in the second half despite heavier rain, the Scarlets players seemed much more steady on their feet.

The Scarlets centers were awful, poor skills, and lack of awareness, they seemed so slow in reading situations and far, far too slow to react. there was one fantastic turnover just inside their own half and it caught the cantres and left wing totally by suprise, they had no idea how to think on their feet.

The scrum half (R Williams) was awful, taking far to long to get the ball out of the rucks, he killed any chance the Scarlets had of scoring tries, simply by dithering so much. He was replaced in the second half and the Scarlets looked a lot better.

The pack went well though, McCusker, Turnbull, Morgan murdered their opposite numbers, and won the game. While the front row monstered their Italian counterparts in the scrums. Nearly all the scrums resulted in Aironi going backwards and standing up to avoid total humiliation.

Could of been a cracker, but sadly the rain messed it up, and poor skills from the Scarlets backs made things worse.

Poor game but a win is a win, The scarlets are made to run but they have their first choice back line away.

They do however (hooker aside) have their first choice pack and they should be looking to use them to win games untill the world cup is over even if it goes against their natural game place.

as a side note judging by the highlights on scrum v the 9 for the rfc looked far better than the guy who played for the region

Yep, exactly right, the centres were awful and the scrumhalf had a shocker, luckily though the pack was virtually full strength, although Ben Morgan was very quiet today. Biggest worry for me was at fullback, Dan Evans has gone backwards, very poor these days. Not overly concerned about the centres, we've got Maule and Reynolds to come back, the young scrumhalf is only 18 and normally would be 6th choice and hasn't even played for the semi-pro's yet, Shingler still looks lightweight in the 2nd row as well, still a win's a win, performance wise though, disappointing.

Agree with the lot Alyn, the two Rhodri's (Williams the scrum-half and Gomer-Davies) were cringe-worthy every time they got possession, as I said inexperience or lack of gametime should not excuse some of the bumbles they managed to produce. Though they were not the only culprits. Newton was the only starting back who didn't look mainly pish poor to me.

Thought the entire pack earned a pat on the back, they did their jobs at the set-piece and set up a lot of opportunities only for the backs to butcher, especially in the 1st half.

jb1973 wrote:Poor game but a win is a win, The scarlets are made to run but they have their first choice back line away.

They do however (hooker aside) have their first choice pack and they should be looking to use them to win games untill the world cup is over.

the 9 for the rfc looked far better than the guy who played for the region

I think the Scarlets got unlucky there, in the match program the Scrum half is listed as their new signing Ruki Tipuna, however on the field was Rhodri Williams. Maybe Ruki got injured before the game?
To be fair Rhodri has only just turned 18, so maybe give him the benefit of the doubt here, though clearly when he was replaced by Gareth Davies things went a lot better.
Rhodri isn't ready for this level based on this showing.

Turkster wrote:Shingler still looks lightweight in the 2nd row as well, still a win's a win, performance wise though, disappointing.

I agree the match program has him listed as 106kg, which according to Google is 16 and a half stone, which is too light for a second row forward. What I will say about Shingler today is he is superb at disrupting opposition line outs. He was causing Pandamonium in the Aironi line out, so maybe if they could bulk him up, Wales might have something they haven't had since Gareth Llewellyn retired... a line out forward who can pick off opposition throws. He seems to have the knack of timing his jump right to throw off the opposition line out.

AlynDavies wrote:

I think the Scarlets got unlucky there, in the match program the Scrum half is listed as their new signing Ruki Tipuna, however on the field was Rhodri Williams. Maybe Ruki got injured before the game?
To be fair Rhodri has only just turned 18, so maybe give him the benefit of the doubt here, though clearly when he was replaced by Gareth Davies things went a lot better.
Rhodri isn't ready for this level based on this showing.

apparently Ruki Tipuna's papers haven't come through yet, so they couldn't play him, and Gareth Davies has only just got back from injury so they didn't want to risk him from the start. I should think Rhodri Williams will have to play a lot more for the semi-pro's before he gets near the Scarlets team again.

Turkster wrote:apparently Ruki Tipuna's papers haven't come through yet, so they couldn't play him, and Gareth Davies has only just got back from injury so they didn't want to risk him from the start. I should think Rhodri Williams will have to play a lot more for the semi-pro's before he gets near the Scarlets team again.

Ah right I was wondering what had happened before the game, as I was looking forward to seeing him play. Though Gareth Davies looks a good prospect himself based on todays showing, and he is only 21.
Thanks for clearing the Ruki situation up.

RugbyDreamer will hopefully be along later, I will be interested on his take on todays game.

Alyn - Shingler has bulked up lots already for this season! He was great int he line out today but needs to up his work in the loose/contact area I think.

I really felt for Rhodri Williams at scrum half today he did look a bit out of his depth. Looks like there were loads of last minute decisions as to who was going to start, as the guy who played 9 for llanelli yesterday, was supposed to be on the bench today. We did though look much better when Gareth Davies came on.

Our Centres were dreadful, I can't argue with that at all. Can't wait for Maule and Reynolds to get fit. Chuffed for Fenby getting a try and performing well, great to see after his long injury lay off.

I think this match has showed how much we might struggle in the first couple of months of the season. The forwards might well be able to win us a lot of ball, but our backs just look too out of their depth to do too much with is. I'm not sure Maule coming back in is going to be enough!

Pleased that we improved 2nd half though (and Alyn, I agree with you about the studs!). Glad we went for a penalty at the end as well. guaranteed 3 points instead of gambling for 5 or 7. We can't afford to waste any scoring oppotrunities and what with the conditions, the kick was the sensible option.

Aironi were very disruptive 1st half but got worn down in the 2nd I think. They didn't offer too much though, and I feel it's going to be a pretty long season for them.

AlynDavies wrote:

Turkster wrote:apparently Ruki Tipuna's papers haven't come through yet, so they couldn't play him, and Gareth Davies has only just got back from injury so they didn't want to risk him from the start. I should think Rhodri Williams will have to play a lot more for the semi-pro's before he gets near the Scarlets team again.

Ah right I was wondering what had happened before the game, as I was looking forward to seeing him play. Though Gareth Davies looks a good prospect himself based on todays showing, and he is only 21.
Thanks for clearing the Ruki situation up.

RugbyDreamer will hopefully be along later, I will be interested on her take on todays game.

Fixed that for you

There you are you slacker! (rugbydreamer)
I hope you went to the bar after the game, because I made it back half way across South Wales quicker then you made it home

Where abouts where you seated, I was in South Stand,
Block S10
Row L
Seat 0182
Turnstile ST6

I might of been sat near you.

I agree with your comments on Aironi, they had no stand out players, and looked very average. Though considering Italy only have 2 provinces anyway and their both weak when they have their first teams, you assume the reserves must be pretty poor.

I think the Scarlets will get batter mate, some teams just don't do rain!

rugbydreamer wrote:Fixed that for you

Sorry didn't realise you were a lady... and there was me thinking we only had Cari to flirt with

Your not slim with dark hair, and very pretty by any chance, walking arm in arm with an older man when you left the ground?

Ah I've been back for a while, had my dinner before coming on here, was only in the barn pre-match

I don't do seats at the rugby! I have a terracing ticket, always stand just to the right of the half way line, great spot (even if it did mean I got a bit wet today, stupid wind blowing the rain right at us!)

And whilst you might be right about the rain, weirdly last season we didn't play that bad in it. I am putting todays display all down to inexperience and first match back rustyness!

rugbydreamer wrote:

Ah I've been back for a while, had my dinner before coming on here, was only in the barn pre-match

I don't do seats at the rugby! I have a terracing ticket, always stand just to the right of the half way line, great spot (even if it did mean I got a bit wet today, stupid wind blowing the rain right at us!)

And whilst you might be right about the rain, weirdly last season we didn't play that bad in it. I am putting todays display all down to inexperience and first match back rustyness!

I was in the barn pre-match, at the end table near where the mini bar is where they sell cans.
I didnt notice any terracing there though, I thought it was all seater

ah okay. I was hovering just inside the entrance to the bar area, but didn't stay there for long. Not much fun being in there by yourself!

All the front of the North Stand is terracing (i.e the lowest level), you'd have been staring across at us the whole match, how'd you miss us?!

rugbydreamer wrote:ah okay. I was hovering just inside the entrance to the bar area, but didn't stay there for long. Not much fun being in there by yourself!

I know what you mean, I was a bit lonely on my own far from home today!
I asked all my friends to go but their all Ospreys, or were in work!
Still it's easy to keep yourself entertained with a beer in your hand and trying to understand the Welsh words in the match day program!
today was the 5th rugby game I have attended this season and the first time I got through the match program before I got home!

Shame you weren't that dark haired beauty I was walking alongside on the way out of the stadium, I'd of given you a marrige proposal

http://s4c.tv/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=499901794

the game is up on S4C Iplayer also.

what did you make of the stadium though anyway? Better then the Liberty yes?

Why are the Scarlets of all teams still kicking for goal when 10 points clear?

In the last play of the game why kick for goal again? The game was clearly won and it would have been a good opporunity go through a set move off of a lineout.

rugbydreamer wrote:

what did you make of the stadium though anyway? Better then the Liberty yes?

I thought it was lovely to be honest, the toilets were much bigger, and it looked a lot fuller than the 6,493 attendence, it seemed to me that only the stands behind the posts were empty.

I didn't quite understand how a pint is £2.90 in the barn and £3.10 inside the ground though. While £3.80 for a bottle of Pepsi and a Yorkie bar was a killer!

It was a nice experience though, and passionate fans, nicer than the Ospreys ones but not as much fun (or loud) as the Dragons ones.
the Hazell stand at Rodney Parade is still the best atmosphere Iv'e experienced in Wales, though with the new stand this may be dilluted if the fans get spread out more.

I can see the terracing on the video of the game now, I didn't notice it earlier.

nottins_jones wrote:Why are the Scarlets of all teams still kicking for goal when 10 points clear?

In the last play of the game why kick for goal again? The game was clearly won and it would have been a good opporunity go through a set move off of a lineout.

There wasn't time for the lineout, they either had to kick it out, or go for goal. May as well take the points.

Also the Scarlets looked a lot more powerful up front today than they did last season. Front, second and back-row all playing a part there, even Rhys Thomas.

nottins_jones wrote:Also the Scarlets looked a lot more powerful up front today than they did last season. Front, second and back-row all playing a part there, even Rhys Thomas.

It was pretty much a first choice Scarlets pack though, against a reserve Aironi pack, and Aironi's first choice pack was horrific last season.
I'm not sure if todays game is a good indicator of improvement, lets see how they cope at the Liberty later in the season for a comparison

Weren't sure if that was close to first choice or not. I suppose it is when I think back to the team sheet (bar Rees). Also agree that the centre's weren't too good, same with Fenby despite being a thieving opportunist for that try. Made a lot of errors just as he did when he was last playing for the Scarlets in previous seasons, just think he's another richard Fussel.

Scarlets have 4 good hookers now when Matt Rees is back; anyone wonder if one will be loaned out to another Region so we can develop back-up to erm, Bennet.

Yeah the Dragons fans are always loud, it's good stuff, Dragons v Scarlets last season was the best atmosphere I experienced. Had a fair few songs and chants going on the terracing today though so that was good.

To be fair, both end blocks of the South Stand were empty today, so between 6 and 7 thousand was about right I think. Not bad at all for a game against Aironi.

Ha yeah the prices in the stadium are a bit steep. Was going to buy a kitkat and saw it would have cost me £1.20....no thanks!

@ nottins_jones
Na they've lost Loose Head Prop Salvatore Perugini, and Hooker Fabio Ongaro, as well as 3 Locks Marco Bortolami, Carlo del Fava and Quintin Geldenhuys.
Bortolami, Perugini, and Ongaro, are pretty useful players to be fair.

@ rugbydreamer
Your well behaved, I couldn't resist the Yorkie bar... though ofc that's not for girls is it

Most teams would suffer losing five players like that from their tight five. 4 of their 5 first choice. 3 good second rows and a hooker missing; lineout was a shocker for Aironi. Scrum was fairly weak; and they just had nothing to offer for long periods of the game. They had little structure once they went through several phases and they constantly made mistakes and squandered good territory.

I thought it was a stuttering start for Scarlets, but the players they are missing behind the scrum explains that to a degree. They didn't impress me but had home advantage against a weak team and they got a win. To be fair, their first try showed the kind of rugby they are capable of and it was encouraging for them that they improved as the game went on. You need better halfbacks and centres than played today, but I was impressed by Newton's goal kicking. I'm sure that these games will stand to them in terms of developing some depth but they've got to improve on that in the coming weeks. Play like the first half away from home and they'll be in difficulties.

I really think Steven Shingler has dropped a bolluck by going to London Irish this season, he would be playing now for the Scarlets, and with Jones retiring soon, he would of had a real chance of competing with Preistland for the 10 shirt in a season or so...

From what I read elsewhere he's already been loaned out to London Welsh and is competing with Gordon Ross the Scottish international fly half there!

I hope he got a good contract for this move, because he could of really damaged his career with this move

He played for London Irish yesterday I think Alyn, so maybe a bit premature for him to have been loaned out already?

Think you might be right though in that he's mis timed his move, but we do have Dan Newton and Jordan Williams who is up and coming, as well as Priestland and Stevo to come back into it. It would have been a gamble for him either way.

AlynDavies wrote:I really think Steven Shingler has dropped a bolluck by going to London Irish this season, he would be playing now for the Scarlets, and with Jones retiring soon, he would of had a real chance of competing with Preistland for the 10 shirt in a season or so...

From what I read elsewhere he's already been loaned out to London Welsh and is competing with Gordon Ross the Scottish international fly half there!

I hope he got a good contract for this move, because he could of really damaged his career with this move

surely he will have more chance of being the scarlets 10 if he plays week in week out in the ap and then comes rather than being 3rd choice behind jones and priestland? that williams kid for llanelli rfc is supposed to be a great prospect.

Given the blues issues at 10 id have thought shingler would have gone there but maybe they cant match l irish wages

AlynDavies wrote:I really think Steven Shingler has dropped a bolluck by going to London Irish this season, he would be playing now for the Scarlets, and with Jones retiring soon, he would of had a real chance of competing with Preistland for the 10 shirt in a season or so...

From what I read elsewhere he's already been loaned out to London Welsh and is competing with Gordon Ross the Scottish international fly half there!

I hope he got a good contract for this move, because he could of really damaged his career with this move

He played for Irish yesterday off the bench. I actually think he'll get a lot of game time this year at Irish.

rugbydreamer wrote:He played for London Irish yesterday I think Alyn, so maybe a bit premature for him to have been loaned out already?

Think you might be right though in that he's mis timed his move, but we do have Dan Newton and Jordan Williams who is up and coming, as well as Priestland and Stevo to come back into it. It would have been a gamble for him either way.

I thought I read on another post on this forum that he went to London Irish, but had been loaned to London Scottish for this season, guess it was bad information.
Your right though:

London Irish: Homer, Ojo, Joseph, Bowden, Yarde, Jarvis, Hodgson, Lahiff, Paice, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Garvey, Roche, Thorpe, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Buckland, Dermody, Halavatau, Sandford, Gray, Thompstone, Shingler, Allinson.

Shingler was amongst the subs yesterday

My knowledge on Scarlets players isn't always that good, though I do take notice if the Ospreys need a new player...
Sorry, sorry low blow

Shingler did look like a real gem, I wasn't pleased when I heard he was leaving Wales. Scarlets is a tough place to make a name for yourself if you're a backline player I suppose. Isn't Rheon James part of your academy? If so I'm suprised he's had no involvement with the first team so far.

MBTGOG wrote:

AlynDavies wrote:I really think Steven Shingler has dropped a bolluck by going to London Irish this season, he would be playing now for the Scarlets, and with Jones retiring soon, he would of had a real chance of competing with Preistland for the 10 shirt in a season or so...

From what I read elsewhere he's already been loaned out to London Welsh and is competing with Gordon Ross the Scottish international fly half there!

I hope he got a good contract for this move, because he could of really damaged his career with this move

He played for Irish yesterday off the bench. I actually think he'll get a lot of game time this year at Irish.

I pray Shingler gets some game time this Friday, as we will win nothing with Jarvis at outside half!

That's not the Welsh Jarvis is it Pete? Shingler's pretty good, him and Bowden look like two good attacking options in the midfield. Allinson looked alright aswell from what I seen of him.

The Welsh Jarvis is in Ireland with Connacht trying to become the Irish Jarvis.

Good win in the end. Maybe not the best game I ever watched but its an opening week win. The weather was a big factor no doubt and running rugby was always going to be difficult to play.

I know the young scrum half had a bad game but hes only 18 and he will learn from the experience. I'm sure he will come good in a few seasons. But he really had quite a few poor passes during the game.

I was a bit baffled with the decision to start Aled Thomas at 12. Hes a Fly Half and sure he could fill in at 12 but shouldnt the Scarlets have looked for a Specialist in that position during the offseason?

Newton seems to have a good kicking game but his distribution didnt look great so not sure how that will affect the Scarlets Centres either.

On a positive note they did go well in the front 8. Aironi looked strong there but couldnt overpower them.

I watched this game late last night and though not particularly good there were a few reasonable performances.
Scarlets defended very well around the fringes and as this was Aironi's only avenue for attack, they nillified this fairly easily. Some very good chasing in the last quarter set up a few chances and I think if the conditions had been better they might have scored more tries.
They will improve from that. As for Aironi, they lack any ideas and will struggle at least until their Internationals return.