The official "Even London Irish have got a thread" Scarlets thread 2015/16

[Chunky Norwich]

First topic message reminder :

Come on bois.

[Chunky Norwich]

Chunky Barclay is starting on Sunday boss

Scarlets team to take on Connacht at Parc y Scarlets, Sunday 10th January kick-off 2.30pm;

15 Michael Collins, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens ©, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Tom Price, 5 Lewis Rawlins, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 John Barclay, 8 Morgan Allen

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Phil John, Rhodri Jones, Maselino Paulino, Rory Pitman, Rhodri Williams, Steve Shingler, Steff Hughes

Unavailable for selection:
Will Boyde (foot),
James Davies (foot),
Peter Edwards (elbow),
Liam Williams (foot),
Scott Williams (knee),
Tom Williams (shoulder),
Tom Phillips (concussion),
Michael Tagicakibau (hamstring),
Jake Ball (knee),
George Earle (calf),
Harry Robinson (hamstring),
Gareth Owen (shoulder),
Emyr Phillips (knee),
Jack Condy (shoulder)

Great that Barclay is back. Pitman on bench too. I really worry about our locks though.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Good to see Steff Hughes back too.

Yeah lock is looking like our next problem area.

[Chunky Norwich]

Wow. what a dreadful performance from the Scarlets. Glad to win. Connacht can feel hard done by, they had 1 TMO decision which looked like a try, however it came from a scrum that was never a knock on by Aled Davies.

Mitrea' performance doesn't warrant my time. He is not professional rugby standard.

[VinceWLB]

Yet it was the best refereeing performance i have seen at the weekend from the likes of Lacey, Owens, Clancy and Pearce. Wilkinson wasn't bad on Friday for the Ospreys game too.

Rugby as a sport doesn't allow for better refereeing performance than the one we got from Mitrea today. Have to take into account English isn't Mitrea 1st language too.

[Chunky Norwich]

Yet it was the best refereeing performance i have seen at the weekend from the likes of Lacey, Owens, Clancy and Pearce. Wilkinson wasn't bad on Friday for the Ospreys game too.

Rugby as a sport doesn't allow for better refereeing performance than the one we got from Mitrea today. Have to take into account English isn't Mitrea 1st language too.

Owens? The Owens that the Stade Francais captain refused to speak to during the game because he was so dreadful?

Didn't see Clancy. I've heard Pearce won the game for Ulster but didn't see it. Lacey wasn't too bad.

[Cardiff Dave]

Connacht robbed.
How was that not a try by their no.8?

[VinceWLB]

Yet it was the best refereeing performance i have seen at the weekend from the likes of Lacey, Owens, Clancy and Pearce. Wilkinson wasn't bad on Friday for the Ospreys game too.

Rugby as a sport doesn't allow for better refereeing performance than the one we got from Mitrea today. Have to take into account English isn't Mitrea 1st language too.

Owens? The Owens that the Stade Francais captain refused to speak to during the game because he was so dreadful?

Didn't see Clancy. I've heard Pearce won the game for Ulster but didn't see it. Lacey wasn't too bad.

Owens was terrible, breakdown is a mess with him, Lacey not much better Clancy and Pearce both seem to don't really know the rules and awards penalty randomly.

[VinceWLB]

Connacht robbed.
How was that not a try by their no.8?

For me there was a slight knock on from him.

[Cardiff Dave]

Connacht robbed.
How was that not a try by their no.8?

For me there was a slight knock on from him.

Looked like he did enough to ground it. Thought too that the TMO agreed, but went along with what the ref decided.

[Seagultaf]

I only saw the second half and I was struggling to see why The ref was giving Connacht so many favourable descisions to the obvious disgust of the Scarlets crowd. Then after the game I saw the first disallowed try, which looked to be a try all day long. I suspect that the ref was trying to make up for that very poor descision.

[Chunky Norwich]

Yellow:

https://i.gyazo.com/a32761fe14992ec847b4145fc417a83f.mp4

Just a penalty:

https://i.gyazo.com/76ceb699fc96c77bdf1909f377887640.mp4


What a ref.

[Chunky Norwich]

Lucky to get away with this

https://i.gyazo.com/9d2c327ab3b5d124a7a4e9d200061852.mp4

[Cardiff Dave]

Just a penalty:

https://i.gyazo.com/76ceb699fc96c77bdf1909f377887640.mp4

What a ref.

During the game, a tv replay from a different position seemed to show that the Connacht player was accidentally tripped beforehand by another Connacht player.

[Cardiff Dave]

Lucky to get away with this

https://i.gyazo.com/9d2c327ab3b5d124a7a4e9d200061852.mp4

Handbags FFS!

[eirebilly]

Lucky to get away with this

https://i.gyazo.com/9d2c327ab3b5d124a7a4e9d200061852.mp4

I do not like fingers near the eyes and it looks like he intentionally wanted to have a sneaky eye gouge. Hope the citing commissioner picks up on that one.

[Chunky Norwich]

Just a penalty:

https://i.gyazo.com/76ceb699fc96c77bdf1909f377887640.mp4

What a ref.

During the game, a tv replay from a different position seemed to show that the Connacht player was accidentally tripped beforehand by another Connacht player.

He stumbles over his own feet then decides to go flat out with no arms. It' reckless at best. Way worse than what Aki did.

[Chunky Norwich]

Lucky to get away with this

https://i.gyazo.com/9d2c327ab3b5d124a7a4e9d200061852.mp4

I do not like fingers near the eyes and it looks like he intentionally wanted to have a sneaky eye gouge. Hope the citing commissioner picks up on that one.

I don't think there's reckless contact with the eye, but intentionally striking a player in the face with your hand is at least a yellow isn't it?

Connacht are a team who wear their heart on their sleeve, but they are "abrasive" shall we say. And that goes for the backroom staff too.

[VinceWLB]

All of these were TMO decisions right? At least unlike Owens (who has too big an ego), Mitrea went to the TMO for these decisions. Agreed the yellow card was given to the wrong offense.

It was also the TMO responsibility to point out the punch during the brawl.

[eirebilly]

Lucky to get away with this

https://i.gyazo.com/9d2c327ab3b5d124a7a4e9d200061852.mp4

I do not like fingers near the eyes and it looks like he intentionally wanted to have a sneaky eye gouge. Hope the citing commissioner picks up on that one.

I don't think there's reckless contact with the eye, but intentionally striking a player in the face with your hand is at least a yellow isn't it?

Connacht are a team who wear their heart on their sleeve, but they are "abrasive" shall we say. And that goes for the backroom staff too.

Its just a pet hate of mine. I can certainly see one finger making contact with the eye area.

[Cardiff Dave]

Get rid of tv replays, I say.

[Chunky Norwich]

All of these were TMO decisions right? At least unlike Owens (who has too big an ego), Mitrea went to the TMO for these decisions. Agreed the yellow card was given to the wrong offense.

It was also the TMO responsibility to point out the punch during the brawl.

The second no arms tackle wasn't referred to the TMO, just linesman input.

I do agree that at least he goes to TMO.

[VinceWLB]

Had a quick look on the Connacht forum, nobody seems to be complaining about the ref which confirms my thought that he did have a good game, the TMO on the other hand.. I say until we get competent ones, get rid of TMOs altogether and let the ref take his decisions from watching at the big screen.

Return fixture will be very soon, Connacht will probably have Henshaw back and it will be on Sky, should be fun

[Cardiff Dave]

All of these were TMO decisions right? At least unlike Owens (who has too big an ego), Mitrea went to the TMO for these decisions. Agreed the yellow card was given to the wrong offense.

It was also the TMO responsibility to point out the punch during the brawl.

More like a gentle shove than a proper punch. Had little mwmentwm.

[VinceWLB]

More like a gentle shove than a proper punch. Had little mwmentwm.

This was in slow-motion remember! I would say Barclay will be feeling it tomorrow.

[Cardiff Dave]

Had a quick look on the Connacht forum, nobody seems to be complaining about the ref which confirms my thought that he did have a good game, the TMO on the other hand.. I say until we get competent ones, get rid of TMOs altogether and let the ref take his decisions from watching at the big screen.

Return fixture will be very soon, Connacht will probably have Henshaw back and it will be on Sky, should be fun

Doesn't the old duffer TMO decide what is replayed on the big screen? And how big should a screen be? Its resolution? How many camera angles should there be too? Are there regulations that state as to where cameras should be situated? What about the cameraman bloke and his mate carrying the cables, running up and down the touchline? What if they're not quick enough to keep up with play? Just asking as so many decisions go to the TMO these days.

[Cardiff Dave]

More like a gentle shove than a proper punch. Had little mwmentwm.

This was in slow-motion remember! I would say Barclay will be feeling it tomorrow.

I watched it in real time. Water off a ducks back to a Turk mun. Think he halfed milked it too coz he started shouting.

[Marshes]

Congrats to Scarlets, great game to watch, bit gutted to come away with a loss, thought the Masterson try was unfairly ruled out but aside from that other decisions were OK. I thought Dillane was bumped by his on player which brought his arms out of the way making it look intentional so penalty no card was the right call for me (you could see it in the replay on TV). Loughney silly tackle at the end deserved to be punished, need coolers heads in that situation to see out games.

[Chunky Norwich]

All of these were TMO decisions right? At least unlike Owens (who has too big an ego), Mitrea went to the TMO for these decisions. Agreed the yellow card was given to the wrong offense.

It was also the TMO responsibility to point out the punch during the brawl.

More like a gentle shove than a proper punch. Had little mwmentwm.

I don't believe the laws mention how fast / hard a strike has to be.

[Chunky Norwich]

I thought Dillane was bumped by his on player which brought his arms out of the way making it look intentional so penalty no card was the right call for me (you could see it in the replay on TV). .

If it's a penalty, it's for intentional no use of the arms. Which was given a yellow card earlier in the game. If it's unintenional - then it shouldn't have even been a penalty.

By the way, if I get tripped, the first thing my arms do is come out perpendicular to my body. I appreciate your post though, dignified in a tough defeat.

[mikey_dragon]

The scrum was a lot more solid today, but Lee still looked knackered by 60 minutes.

[Marshes]

I thought Dillane was bumped by his on player which brought his arms out of the way making it look intentional so penalty no card was the right call for me (you could see it in the replay on TV). .

If it's a penalty, it's for intentional no use of the arms. Which was given a yellow card earlier in the game. If it's unintenional - then it shouldn't have even been a penalty.

By the way, if I get tripped, the first thing my arms do is come out perpendicular to my body. I appreciate your post though, dignified in a tough defeat.

Easy to be dignified losing to Scarlets to be honest, they play a good brand of rugby, looking forward to the return le hopefully the wheels are back on for us at that stage!

For Dillane I don't think it was intentional. The bump doesn't come from behind where his arms would go out like you say, it comes from the side where Connolly and the Scarlets player moving to Dillane's left at speed, you can see he takes a fair whack to the head in getting it wrong. Compared to Aki's one which as just senseless.

[LordDowlais]

There were two incidents in this game where I think a citing commissioner needs to be looking at, the first one was when the Connacht no. 4 blatantly tackled with the shoulder and did not even attempt to wrap his arms, that could have been serious, but fair play to the Scarlets player he just got up and did not make a fuss, not like Sexton on Friday night, and secondly after Scarlets won a penalty from a scrum, the whole lot irrupted and a Connacht player swung a punch to the face of the Scarlets forward and then preceded to make contact with the eye area after his punch made no inroads.

I will be very surprised if these two incidents are ignored.

[Chunky Norwich]

There were two incidents in this game where I think a citing commissioner needs to be looking at, the first one was when the Connacht no. 4 blatantly tackled with the shoulder and did not even attempt to wrap his arms, that could have been serious, but fair play to the Scarlets player he just got up and did not make a fuss, not like Sexton on Friday night, and secondly after Scarlets won a penalty from a scrum, the whole lot irrupted and  a Connacht player swung a punch to the face of the Scarlets forward and then preceded to make contact with the eye area after his punch made no inroads.

I will be very surprised if these two incidents are ignored.

The videos of both are above. I highly doubt there will be any citings. I personally thought both were yellow cards.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Watching the video of the lock, I honestly don't think there is much in it. It looks bad, but no worse than Aaron Shingler's one against Ulster earlier in the season. There was the intent to tackle cleanly, but due to the player being tackled already, the tackle turned into a shoulder.

The incident with Barclay being punched/gouged, will all depend on who is involved in the citing process. At the time I thought he would be looking at a few weeks, but now I am not too sure he will get anything.

Also, I can't get over how lucky we were to escape from that match with the win. Connacht we certainly the better side, and the TMO shafted them on the first non-try.

[Seagultaf]

Another two yellow cards today for the Scarlets as they were being thrashed by Racing. Do they have a real discipline problem or are they getting the rough end of the refereeing descisions?

[ScarletSpiderman]

Really glad I didn't see this match. I expected a loss but not such an embarrassing one.

Out of interest why did Earle drop out last minute? And Are we really down to having to use Regan Jnr as a lock replacement???

[ScarletSpiderman]

So during the 6Ns we are going to lose:

Rob, Ken, Samson, Ball, and Barclay in the pack
Aled, Cawdor and Sanjay in the backs.

So realistically, including our injury crisis, we are looking at being able to field a pretty decent side during the 6Ns

John, Myhill, Rh Jones, Price, Rawlings, Pitman, Shingler, Allen;
Rh Williams, A Thomas, DTH, Parks, King, Steff, Collins
(Elias, D Evans, A.N.Other, Paulino, T Phillips; Hardy, Shingler, Owen)

[mikey_dragon]

I'm surprised they can put out a decent team with all those players missing. I think that's how they reached the top of the league early season, having a better '2nd team' than most others in the league.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Mikey, plus we didn't have the injury crisis back then so we had the likes of Cubby, Pete Edwards, Barclay, Emyr Phillips and Earle available too.

I am not so sure it is down to the 'second string' being better than others, but I think it is more to do with the second string players don't see themselves as that far behind those who are occupying the first choice shirt.

[mikey_dragon]

You're probably right there, but I think they're likely still viewed by the coaches and fans as being next in line to the players ahead of them. I think Scarlets have had this strength for quite a while - it is perhaps the first team that should be performing better, especially when it comes to the champs cup.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Mikey, it is kind of hard, we have not had our first choice team (or anything near it) out this season.  Scott and Liam are key to our side, and with them missing the RCC was a write off before it began.

But I do think it is kind of funny to think the one welsh region that are not having a decent fist of it in Europe are looking likely to be the only ones in the RCC next season.

[Cardiff Dave]

Mikey, it is kind of hard, we have not had our first choice team (or anything near it) out this season.  Scott and Liam are key to our side, and with them missing the RCC was a write off before it began.

But I do think it is kind of funny to think the one welsh region that are not having a decent fist of it in Europe are looking likely to be the only ones in the RCC next season.

Cardiff have got 7 pro12 games at fortress CAP to follow. Lookout!

[ScarletSpiderman]

Ken Owens says the loss to Racing was embarrassing and disrespectful to the club.

SCARLETS skipper Ken Owens has described his side's Champions Cup capitulation against Racing 92 as "embarrassing" and "disrespectful to the club".

The Wales hooker was clearly still hurting from the 64-14 rout in Paris as he addressed the media at Parc y Scarlets yesterday.

And he pulled no punches in his assessment of a performance that saw the Scarlets crumble to a record defeat in European competition.

"It is hugely disappointing, we did play against the best side in Europe and we have a lot of injuries, but looking back at the game, parts of it were pretty embarrassing," he said.

"There were one-on-one missed tackles and going down to 13 players also took its toll. We are one of the top teams in Europe for giving away penalties and yellow cards and our discipline is unacceptable at the moment.

"You can accept losing to a better side and Racing were by far the better side. I just think the manner in which we lost was hugely disrespectful to the club, to each other as professionals and to the supporters who travelled out there. We need to take that on the chin.

"It is about individuals being honest and collectively as a team we need to be as well. We are not going to hang anybody out to dry, but we all need to put our hands up and admit it wasn't good enough.

"It was a record defeat in Europe and you can't hide from that. We are a much better team than that and a much better squad than that."

The Scarlets, who currently lead the Pro12 table, have one final chance to salvage some pride from their European campaign when they take on Northampton Saints in Llanelli on Saturday.

"Last season we worked hard to guarantee that sixth spot to bring us into this competition," added Owens. "We can't hide from the fact we have lost five from five with some pretty poor performances. We need to finish on a positive note to take something from this campaign and get a bit of a respect back.

"It is going to be difficult, they have got something to play for, but we have to restore some passion and pride in the shirt. That has got to be our motivation."

[Cardiff Dave]

Ken Owens says the loss to Racing was embarrassing and disrespectful to the club.

SCARLETS skipper Ken Owens has described his side's Champions Cup capitulation against Racing 92 as "embarrassing" and "disrespectful to the club".

The Wales hooker was clearly still hurting from the 64-14 rout in Paris as he addressed the media at Parc y Scarlets yesterday.

And he pulled no punches in his assessment of a performance that saw the Scarlets crumble to a record defeat in European competition.

"It is hugely disappointing, we did play against the best side in Europe and we have a lot of injuries, but looking back at the game, parts of it were pretty embarrassing," he said.

"There were one-on-one missed tackles and going down to 13 players also took its toll. We are one of the top teams in Europe for giving away penalties and yellow cards and our discipline is unacceptable at the moment.

"You can accept losing to a better side and Racing were by far the better side. I just think the manner in which we lost was hugely disrespectful to the club, to each other as professionals and to the supporters who travelled out there. We need to take that on the chin.

"It is about individuals being honest and collectively as a team we need to be as well. We are not going to hang anybody out to dry, but we all need to put our hands up and admit it wasn't good enough.

"It was a record defeat in Europe and you can't hide from that. We are a much better team than that and a much better squad than that."

The Scarlets, who currently lead the Pro12 table, have one final chance to salvage some pride from their European campaign when they take on Northampton Saints in Llanelli on Saturday.

"Last season we worked hard to guarantee that sixth spot to bring us into this competition," added Owens. "We can't hide from the fact we have lost five from five with some pretty poor performances. We need to finish on a positive note to take something from this campaign and get a bit of a respect back.

"It is going to be difficult, they have got something to play for, but we have to restore some passion and pride in the shirt. That has got to be our motivation."

Strong words, but fair I spose. Good for him.
And good for the club too, of course.

[Cardiff Dave]

Turks 3-12 Northampton HT.

[mikey_dragon]

Load of rubbish really, yet their fans online will be gloating about the league later on.

[Cardiff Dave]

Load of rubbish really, yet their fans online will be gloating about the league later on.

Nowt to play for though don't forget, other than pride.

[mikey_dragon]

You've know they've been dismal throughout this comp right? I think the Scarlets should be doing much better, yet they always seem to perform badly in Europe. If winning the Pro12 gives them the kick they need for next year then I hope it comes to be.

[Cardiff Dave]

You've know they've been dismal throughout this comp right? I think the Scarlets should be doing much better, yet they always seem to perform badly in Europe. If winning the Pro12 gives them the kick they need for next year then I hope it comes to be.

Complete pants yeah. The league has been a bit strange too due to the RWC.

[Cardiff Dave]

Try Turks. Crowd have already left.

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