REACTION: Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel paid tribute to a squad effort following their upset 23-22 victory over the Bulls at Parc y Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship on Friday.
The Bulls who went into the clash as heavy favourites following their win against Ospreys last week managed to put the home side under pressure for sustained periods – especially in the first stanza before the hosts fought back to claim a dramatic one-point victory.
Peel admitted that their pre-planned tactics paid-off against a powerful Bulls outfit as they managed to use the conditions to their advantage.
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“I am delighted with the result. It was a big performance,” said Peel.
“We have been building slowly, we have spoken about competing hard and that is what we did again tonight.
“It was a victory we deserved in the end, it is part of the process of getting better. They had some big units in their team, we had a game plan to move them about a bit with a kicking game because we knew it was going to be wet and would be greasy under foot and to be fair to the boys there were some big defensive sets.
“Their scrum is strong, but I thought our scrum dealt with it well, I think it was just one penalty; their maul is a massive strength, but we worked really hard to stay in that fight.
“I thought what we did well was when we had opportunities, we took them.
“The two wings scoring outstanding tries helps the game when that happens. The squad effort was big and the bench was impactful.”
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Peel added: “You look back to the two games against Benetton and Connacht the shoe was on the other foot but we managed to see it out this time
‘We are working hard together, not just the 23 on the pitch but the squad as a whole. It was lovely to hear that singing from the crowd at the end, it was a good night, now we move on to next week against Zebre.
“We need to keep growing this momentum, it is another home game, another important game. We are on a high tonight, we will enjoy it, relax and recover over the next couple of days and come back on Monday to prepare for the last game of this block. It is a big week.”
