SCARLETS V TREVISO // RABO DIRECT PRO 12

Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain, I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain, Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life, The working, the working, just the working life. - Factory (1978)

After last week's performance or you could say, lack of performance, Parc Y Scarlets' crowd was understandably sparse as their home team ran on to the pitch to face Italian side Treviso. Treviso had given the Ospreys a tough battle the week before thus the men in red knew that they had to improve on their previous performance if they wanted to record their first win of the season and with just three minutes on the clock they found themselves 7-0. Gareth Davies, the Scarlets' scrum half, ran a great line , found an even better break and showed immense pace that left Treviso defenders in his wake and him over the white wash. A great try and a very decent start to the Scarlets' game.

This level of urgency continued in the Scarlets' play for most of the first half with Treviso spending most of their time defending out of their socks. Almost instantly after Davies' try, Scarlets took a quick lineout out to winger Liam Williams who found a break in the opposition's defence and after a few smooth offloads it looked as though the home side would score again but a penalty to Treviso at the break down meant that the Scarlets missed a golden opportunity. This would become a very annoying habit throughout the game for Easterby's side - their attacking play would look very threatening but continuous handling errors or ill disciple at the breakdown meant that the ball was turned over time and time again. This is a trait that the side must banish as soon as possible because when they play some of the higher tiered teams in both the Pro 12 and Europe they will undoubtably be punished.

After some very quick hands by Aaron Shingler on the floor, Gareth Davies put another five points on the board and with Steve Shingler having not missed a single kick this season the home side were up 14-0. This second try started from an incredibly strong Scarlets scrum, a kind of powerful scrum that we have not seen from the West Walians in years, if ever. With Wales U20's Samson Lee, International hooker Ken Owens and old head Phil John in the front three the pack managed to control every scrum that was set and even managed to turn a few over. The lineout also looked very convincing and the driving mauls that were used in the game gained them a sizeable amount of territory. The Scarlets' pack is a very exciting area of the team's game at the moment and one that will surely continue to develop and improve.

Tensions seemed to be uncharacteristically high on the field on Saturday night with numerous fights breaking out throughout the game and just before half time the referee had had enough and sent both Scarlets' try scorer, Gareth Davies, and Treviso's Di Bernardo to the sin bin. Just before half time Treviso's Tobias Botes kicked over the travelling side's first three points of the game making the score 14-3 going in to the changing rooms.

Upon returning to the field star prop, Samson Lee, dropped to the floor holding his neck and after being sick on the field he was very swiftly taken back in to the changing rooms where he undertook some tests and thankfully he was suffering of no more than a stomach bug. But, despite losing Lee the Scarlets showed that they had strength and depth in the forwards as they continued to boss the set pieces and winning numerous three points and penalties for their team.

Treviso, on occasions, were seen to be attempting to create and with just five minutes of the first half gone the Italian side's scrum half, Tobias Botes, showed great vision to produce a chip and chase behind a flat Scarlets defence and by producing a greatly timed offload to Ludovico Nitoglia, the centre managed to cross the white wash and bring the score difference back to 7 points. This try also bought great confidence in to the Treviso side and with the pressure building on the Scarlets' defence more and more handling errors were being made by the home side which no doubt frustrated players, coaches and supporters alike.

With 60 minutes on the clock Lions hero Jonathan Davies came on to the field to play his first club match since last season and even with only twenty minutes on the field the Scarlets captain (along with Mccusker) managed a few impressive ball carries.

With Treviso losing another player to the sin bin the Scarlets found themselves 26-10 up with only a few minutes to go until the final whistle. With the win safely in the bag the Scarlets now must concentrate on reducing the amount of handling errors and turn overs that occur on the pitch in order to be able to confidently and convincingly play agains some of the better teams in the league. Next up Treviso face Irish giants Munster at home in Italy and with Zebre putting up a good fight against Munster on Friday, Treviso might be more confident going in to next Friday's match. Scarlets travel down the M4 to face a Dragons team who are looking very strong having beaten Ulster in their opening match of the season. Will the men in red manage to defeat the power of the Rodney Revolution? We will have to wait and see.