- Scarlets 7-23 Black Lion – Welsh region suffer humiliating loss.
Scarlets’ miserable season continued with a shock loss to Challenge Cup newcomers Black Lion in Llanelli.
A Vaea Fifita try came during a bright start, but Dwayne’s Peel’s side inexplicably collapsed as they conceded 23 unanswered points.
Miriani Modebadze and Beka Mamrikashvili crossed in either half for the Georgian visitors, while Luka Matkava added 13 points with the boot.
Scarlets have now lost seven of nine games in all competitions.
It was hard to imagine the boos which came at the final whistle as Scarlets looked so positive in the early attacks, throwing the ball around with confidence.
That began with a brilliant break from man of the moment Ioan Lloyd, who took a quick line-out, eyed a gap and weaved his way 50 metres through the mist of the pyrotechnics. It was just unfortunate for the home side that he did not see Steff Evans in support.
But momentum continued and quick ball from Gareth Davies allowed the returning Fifita to juggle and crash over from close range.
Black Lion’s early discipline let them down and things went from bad to worse when Sandro Mamamtavrishvili was sent to the sin bin for an off-the-ball challenge.
Scarlets continued to feed off penalties but they failed to discover the tempo which had excited the almost 6,000 crowd early on, much to the frustration of Dwayne Peel and his coaching staff.
At the same time Black Lion grew into the game, their scrum giving them a decent platform, and player-of-the-match Matkava took full advantage of an offside penalty to kick their first points.
The game was then turned on its head five minutes before the break when Luka Ivanishvili took a quick-tap penalty which put his side on the front foot and paved the way for Modebadze to score.
Scarlets continued to look nervous after the restart as they struggled with the basics, while Matkava was happy to take the points on offer.
Scarlets continued to wait for the spark, as both sides looked to their benches for inspiration, but little came the way of the hosts.
Lion’s second try came from a five-metre line-out and there was to be no stopping their powerful forwards, with hooker Mamrikishvili driven over the line.
Scarlets desperately needed a response and they might have got it via a wayward pass, which Steff Evans hacked through before forcing a five-metre scrum.
But despite the crowd urging Scarlets to drive, the ball bobbled out before being knocked on, a move which summed up their evening.
The uphill task grew steeper as Scarlets were reduced to 14 players with Harri O’Connor sent to the sinbin for a culmination of scrum penalties.
Lion looked comfortable in the final quarter as the rain came down and fans headed for an early exit.
Matkava kicked another penalty, while a late injury to Fifita added to Scarlets’ misery and an ever-growing injury list.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel head coach said: “I thought we were poor to be honest, in certain elements of the game.
“Our speed into the breakdown wasn’t good enough, that’s something as a coach that you keep hammering every week.
“Some of that was due to our poor attack as well, I don’t think we attacked very well.
“We were taught a lesson at scrum-time and got penalised at almost every one.”
Scarlets: Tom Rogers; Steff Evans, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Ryan Conbeer; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies (capt); Steff Thomas, Shaun Evans, Joe Jones, Alex Craig, Jac Price, Ben Williams, Teddy Leatherbarrow, Vaea Fifita.
Replacements: Eduan Swart, Sam O’Connor, Harri O’Connor, Ed Scragg, Morgan Jones, Archie Hughes, Charlie Titcombe, Ioan Nicholas.
Black Lion: Miriani Modebadze; Akaki Tabutsadze, Tornike Kakhoidze, Merab Sharikadze, Otar Lashkhi; Luka Matkava, Tengiz Peranidze; Dato Abdushelishvili, Beka Mamrikashvili, Giorgi Chkhartishvili, Nodar Cheishvili, Grigor Kerdikoshvili, Giorgi Kervalishvili, Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, Luka Ivanishvili.
Replacements: Gela Makharashvili, Aliko Shamilishvili, Bachuki Tchumbadze, Demuri Epremidze, Saba Kurtanidze, Giorgi Margalitadze, Giorgi Jobava, Luka Tsirekidze.
Referee: Jeremy Rozier (Fra)
Assistant referees: Vivien Praderie & Thomas Chereque (Fra)
TMO: Patrick Dellac (Fra)
