Scarlets Castres-side demons.

Castres 13 - 16 Scarlets

Castres and Llanelli have a fair bit in common being declining industrial hubs in a rural hinterland. The Scarlets and Castres shared a common desire at the Stade Pierre Antoine to play high tempo attacking rugby. Earlier results had fallen the Scarlets' way and as they crossed the whitewash in the foothills of the Pyrenees they knew that a win, bonus point or no, could seal the consolation prize of Amlin Challenge Cup qualification. Castres had pride to play for, and displayed yet again that for French teams, that is all they need at home.

It was an even evening encounter in the South of France. The defences of both sides were well marshalled. A slice of good fortune handed England deaf rugby team representative Matt Gilbert his opportunity early in the first half. Rhys Priestland playing at full back tried to thread a dainty grubber kick through the solid Castres defence. It rebounded off a leg to the grateful embrace of Scarlet Wales international centre Jonathan Davies, who fed Number 8 Gilbert on the charge. He will tell you that fortune had nothing to do with him sprinting 40 yards up the touchline, swatting Marc Andreu aside as if he wasn't there, riding a strong cover tackle to get into the corner. Referee JP Doyle, the Irish English ref, must have regretted his decision to go the TMO. Communication between them suffered a gremlin forcing Mr Doyle to run to the half way line to conduct his discussions on what seemed to be a particularly straight forward decision, which surely could have been made by the proximate referee's assistant.

It wasn't long before Castres gave him a similar headache. In a far less clear cut case Castres left wing Marc Andreu touched down in the corner. This time though the treck to the half way line led to a finding that Andreu was in touch.

The half was full of attacking intent and towards the end of the half the Scarlets strung together a slick passing move reminiscent of previous campaigns, only to see pocket dynamo open side wing forward (the term 'flanker' just isn't him) Richie Pugh dragged down five meters out. The teams took to the changing rooms with Castres trailing 6-8.

The Scarlets had left five points either side of the posts in the first half and had lost Priestland to an ankle injury which will have Warren Gatland sweating before his trip to the Polish freezers. Castres seemed to sense a sniff of doubt that engendered in the visitors and camped in the Scarlets' 22 early in the second half.

At the crucial moment with Castres seemingly having a run in under the posts Aaron Shingler intercepted the scrum half's pop pass. It is at times like this that a players class is determined. Faced with a ninety yard sprint, does he bust a gut to get there by hook or by crook? Shingler's answer was an emphatic yes. He kept Max Evans in his wake. The Scot could only attempt a desperate tap tackle. It brought Shingler down but over the line. Shingler is a folk hero at Parc Y Scarlets but this try surely cemented that status.

Castres however were not out of the chase and for much of the second half sent wave after wave of flowing attacking movements against the Scarlets' defences. A superb cover tackle by Liam Williams, reminiscent of JPR Williams, saved a sure try in the corner, dislodging the ball from the clutches of Romain Martial the substantial Castres winger as he crossed the line. Even Williams however couldn't keep Forestier, the forest sized Castres replacement prop, out from two yards.

Stephen Jones had taken over the kicking duties and it was his turn to be profligate in the second half, another five points going astray. Would this be the Scarlets downfall yet again? With the game in it's final ten minutes the scores were even at 13-13. The neutral might say befittingly so, but Stephen Jones is no neutral. It was from his hands that the hapless prostrate Castres forward slapped the ball. What looked like a dramatic chance for Castres to take the match with a breakaway try actually resulted in Jones cooly slotting a penalty kick from 15 yards infield on the right. It took the Scarlets to 16-13 ahead with two minutes on the clock and ultimately into the quarter finals of the Amlin Cup. They now face a further foray to the South of France to take on Brive in the quarter finals on the weekend of the 6th April.

Teams:

Castres
15 Romain Teulet
14 Romain Martial
13 Paul Bonnefond
12 Pierre-Manuel Garcia
11 Marc Andreu
10 Seremaia Biakeinuku
9 Rory Kockott
1 Saimone Tamoepeau
2 Mathieu Bonello
3 Karens Wihongi
4 Scott Murray
5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega
6 Jannie Bornman
8 Chris Masoe (c)
7 Steve Malonga

Subs:
Brice Mach, Yannick Forestier, Micheal Coetzee, Mathias Rolland, Yannick Caballero, Thierry Lacrampe, Pierre Bernard, Max Evans.

Scarlets:
15 Rhys Priestland
14 George North
13 Scott Williams
12 Jonathan Davies
11 Liam Williams
10 Stephen Jones (c)
9 Rhodri Williams
1 Phil John
2 Ken Owens
3 Peter Edwards
4 Lou Reed
5 Dom Day
6 Aaron Shingler
8 Matt Gilbert
7 Richie Pugh

Subs:
Emyr Phillips, Iestyn Thomas, Rhodri Jones, Sione Timani, Kirby Myhill, Gareth Davies, Gareth Maule, Vili Iongi.

very nice read Glas

I liked the "Forestier, the forest sized Castres prop" line

with this kind of performance (keeping in mind you had more than a few players missing upfront), you should go through against Brive who in my opinion is much less dangerous than Castres and in 2 month time will be fighting for survival in the T14.

Yes that would seem to be the case. In '07 nobody could stop us and we romped to 6 straight wins in the pools, including a mighty comeback against Toulouse, only to come out of the 6 nations having lost all momentum and see Leicester doing a job on us well and truly. April is a long way away and there is the little matter of the best international competition in the world to contend with in the meantime.

Nice article - hopefully we can take Brive if we can play well and cut out the mistakes that have littered our game recently, and then aparrently it's one of Wasps or Biarritz - I could see us taking Wasps but will be interesting to see either way.

Also hope we come out of the 6Ns well as Glas a du says