THE SCARLETS PLAY SOME MAGICAL RUGBY TO BEAT THE HARLEQUINS 26-33 AT THE STOOP
This isn't going to be a conventional match report, this piece isn't going to go in to much detail about set pieces, tactics and stats, it is going to be an account of an experience - the experience of watching the Scarlets win against the Harlequins away at the Stoop; and what an experience it was!
My mam, mam-gu and my brother have all been to a few Scarlets away matches over the years but despite having followed the West Walians for all my life - nearly 20 years - my trip to Twickenham was my first experience of the travelling Scarlet army and I can assure you it will not be my last.
I travelled the great distance of about 10 minutes on the train to Twickenham ( my university is very close) and I met up with my mam who had been on bit of a longer train journey - 5 hours - from West Wales. After a bit of a delay at check-in we found out that the Scarlets were staying in the same hotel - yeeees! This meant that a jaquzzi was shared with some of the squad and breakfast was eaten with the team before they prepared for the big game. We even bumped in to Gareth Maule in the lift where we told him "no pressure but we've travelled quite far to see the Scarlets play and good luck"! My mam likes to think that it was these words that pushed the Scarlets towards their first 2013/14 Heineken Cup win. I'm not sure, but something worked for them that afternoon.
Before getting changed in to our Scarlets gear we popped in to 'The Cabbage Patch' where we met up with some fellow Scarlets supporters who were warming their voices ready for the 80 minute choral marathon that we were about to partake in. Like I have stated before, myself and my family have been Scarlets supporters for decades but never have I experienced such an atmosphere as that I witnessed on Saturday afternoon at the Stoop. A medley of Sosban Fach, Lawr ar Lan y Môr, Hymn and Arias, Calon Lân and Bread of Heaven was sung from the first kick off to the last whistle and as the Scarlets' score grew bigger, so did the voices of the 500 strong red crowd.
With a few seconds left on the clock it looked as though Harlequins were about to spoil the party, supporters' heads were in their hands and many couldn't bare to watch, as the English team had an attacking scrum in the oppositions half but strong defence and try saving tackles from all of the boys made sure that the 33 points scored by the three Williams' - Rhodri, Jordan and Scott - and from the boot of fly half, Rhys Priestland, secured them an historic and much needed win.
It wasn't just the fact that the Scarlets won, it was the way in which they did so. Ripping balls at the break down, passion and determination in defence and a masterclass of magic and sidestepping by Jordan Williams and Scott Williams in attack all led to the win. A marvellous display of rugby which was not perfect but certainly awesome. Once the squad had celebrated on the pitch they came over to our little corner of the stadium to thank the Scarlets supporters for their support and the supporters had a chance to thank the players for the quality rugby that they managed to pull out of the bag just at the right time - a time when all rugby critics were saying that the standard of the teams in the celtic league was not good enough to compete against the rest of Europe.
The Scarlets have had a bit of a tough time in the Pro 12 and they have certainly not played high quality rugby at all but something clicked in Twickenham, something that the supporters and the rugby world have not seen for a very long time. The Scarlets now have the pressure (good pressure) of keeping up this high standard of rugby as they welcome Racing Metro to Parc Y Scalets next weekend.
Now I'm going to have a lie down to recover from Saturday's fantastic game!
My mam, mam-gu and my brother have all been to a few Scarlets away matches over the years but despite having followed the West Walians for all my life - nearly 20 years - my trip to Twickenham was my first experience of the travelling Scarlet army and I can assure you it will not be my last.
I travelled the great distance of about 10 minutes on the train to Twickenham ( my university is very close) and I met up with my mam who had been on bit of a longer train journey - 5 hours - from West Wales. After a bit of a delay at check-in we found out that the Scarlets were staying in the same hotel - yeeees! This meant that a jaquzzi was shared with some of the squad and breakfast was eaten with the team before they prepared for the big game. We even bumped in to Gareth Maule in the lift where we told him "no pressure but we've travelled quite far to see the Scarlets play and good luck"! My mam likes to think that it was these words that pushed the Scarlets towards their first 2013/14 Heineken Cup win. I'm not sure, but something worked for them that afternoon.
Before getting changed in to our Scarlets gear we popped in to 'The Cabbage Patch' where we met up with some fellow Scarlets supporters who were warming their voices ready for the 80 minute choral marathon that we were about to partake in. Like I have stated before, myself and my family have been Scarlets supporters for decades but never have I experienced such an atmosphere as that I witnessed on Saturday afternoon at the Stoop. A medley of Sosban Fach, Lawr ar Lan y Môr, Hymn and Arias, Calon Lân and Bread of Heaven was sung from the first kick off to the last whistle and as the Scarlets' score grew bigger, so did the voices of the 500 strong red crowd.
With a few seconds left on the clock it looked as though Harlequins were about to spoil the party, supporters' heads were in their hands and many couldn't bare to watch, as the English team had an attacking scrum in the oppositions half but strong defence and try saving tackles from all of the boys made sure that the 33 points scored by the three Williams' - Rhodri, Jordan and Scott - and from the boot of fly half, Rhys Priestland, secured them an historic and much needed win.
It wasn't just the fact that the Scarlets won, it was the way in which they did so. Ripping balls at the break down, passion and determination in defence and a masterclass of magic and sidestepping by Jordan Williams and Scott Williams in attack all led to the win. A marvellous display of rugby which was not perfect but certainly awesome. Once the squad had celebrated on the pitch they came over to our little corner of the stadium to thank the Scarlets supporters for their support and the supporters had a chance to thank the players for the quality rugby that they managed to pull out of the bag just at the right time - a time when all rugby critics were saying that the standard of the teams in the celtic league was not good enough to compete against the rest of Europe.
The Scarlets have had a bit of a tough time in the Pro 12 and they have certainly not played high quality rugby at all but something clicked in Twickenham, something that the supporters and the rugby world have not seen for a very long time. The Scarlets now have the pressure (good pressure) of keeping up this high standard of rugby as they welcome Racing Metro to Parc Y Scalets next weekend.
Now I'm going to have a lie down to recover from Saturday's fantastic game!
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