It was a bit of a funny game, this one. Loads of territory, loads of possession, a Scarlets scrum that creaked all afternoon but, until near the end, an unnervingly tight scoreline. But we looked like we wanted it, played with more creativity than we have seen for a while and ran out comfortable winners. What happened?

After an initial wobble when we kick the ball dead and the Scarlets have a scrum on our 22, we pitch camp in the Scarlets’ half and put them under early pressure. Chris Mayor makes a strong run but is held, Jason runs back a Llanelli clearance kick, the forwards get their rolling maul going. All good stuff, and the Scarlets concede a couple of kickable penalties but Larry really has left his kicking boots at home so both go wide. Then, from a line-out, Jason is fed, makes a half break and we string together several phases with Sililo Martens moving the ball on crisply. Eventually the referee spots a Llanelli hand in a ruck, and Mr Thomas, their prop, gets ten minutes. We take a scrum, a second scrum, a third scrum, then Lilo breaks from the base, gets through a half tackle and crosses. At last, a score! 5-0 after 14 minutes. Larry misses the conversion.

Things carry on in much the same vein- the Scarlets can’t put us under sustained pressure. Jason runs a free kick back, Martens takes a quick penalty and prompts several phases of good handling. Larry sells a colossal dummy but then we concede a penalty and the Scarlets clear to touch. Back we come, Martens makes another blindside break, Llanelli infringe and Larry misses the penalty. Larry makes a break but Andy Titterell knocks on; we regain possession and Lee Taylor knocks on. Eventually Cuets miscues a cross kick, the Scarlets run it back at a disorganised defence and string several phases together, pushing deep into the left corner. Stu Turner is binned and, after holding up a Llanelli attacker over the line, the Scarlets have a five metre scrum. The defence holds initially but then we crack and the Scarlets cross for an unconverted try. How can we have had so much possession, so much territory and yet be tied 5-5 after 32 minutes?

Off we go again- more Sale pressure and Larry misses a drop goal. Cuets gathers the restart, the forwards drive and win a penalty. Lee Thomas takes over the place kicking and slots this one. The Scarlets seem to lose it a bit now- a restart that doesn’t go ten metres, a forward pass when they seem to have a bit of space and the first half rather peters out.

Llanelli start the second half quite brightly, winning a penalty on the Sale 22, which they fail to kick. Then they string several phases together but make no progress against an excellent Sale defence. Magnus Lund steals the ball and chips ahead but it goes straight to a Scarlets player. Fortunately his return kick goes out on the full. The Sale lineout is going well now, with Jones on for Chris Day. We try quick ball off the top of the lineout, then create space for Lilo to break round the blind side. Llanelli are penalised, Lee Thomas does his stuff and it’s 11-5.

We continue to create chances. Jonesy knocks on just when he looks to be clear, we keep the pressure on but then a Sale player is turned and the Scarlets clear. We win the ball back and Cuets has a nice run, Chabal breaks but then Larry kicks the ball dead. The Scarlets win a penalty at the scrum and take it quickly, but actually lose ground against a fired-up defence. Eventually they knock on, Jason has a run and we win a penalty. Larry fires a super touch kick right down the field, we drive from the lineout and win a penalty. 14-5 at 67 minutes- thank you Lee.

We keep the pressure on and drive from a lineout on the Llanelli 10 metre line, then work the ball to Jason who slides through the smallest of gaps between two defenders, wrong-foots the last man and goes round him on the outside. Try! Lee converts and we look safe at 21-5 with 72 minutes gone. The Scarlets have a final flurry, kicking a couple of penalties into the corner, but they can’t generate sustained pressure and the game ends.

We seemed to have more about us today, though we’ll find out next week whether it’s enough to keep the season on course. I felt Larry had his best game so far at 10- he seemed to pass more and to better effect, and made some nice breaks of his own. His touch kicking was solid, with some monster clearances. If only he’d packed his place kicking boots……. Sililo Martens seemed to be moving the ball quickly and we played at pace a lot. The lineout also worked better than recently, particularly once we had Jonesy on. At times in the game, there was some really good defensive work, with the Scarlets often having phase after phase but playing over the same ten metres of ground time after time. Lee Thomas was a fair choice for man of the match, I felt.

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