Scarlets secure first win of season against Glasgow

United Rugby Championship

Scarlets (13) 23

Tries: Macleod, Page Cons: Costelow 2 Pens: Costelow 3

Glasgow (0) 0

A depleted Scarlets earned their first win of the season against an out-of-sorts Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

Returning captain Josh Macleod and Macs Page crossed, while Sam Costelow impressed with 13 points from the boot.

With so many players away on Wales duty, Dwayne Peel had to look to academy players to fill the void, and they looked every bit at home against the frustrated 2024 champions.

Scarlets bagged their first points of the campaign, but remain bottom of the table having played one fewer game than their closest rivals, while Glasgow drop to fifth.

It was exactly 12 months ago when the sides last met, but Glasgow could not come from behind to claim victory in this meeting, in fact, they rarely looked like scoring.

In contrast, Scarlets played the best rugby they had all season, a performance which surely would have encouraged under pressure head coach Dwayne Peel.

Peel may have been without most of his backline, but he welcomed back experienced internationals Macleod, Ryan Elias and Jake Ball, along with Eddie James.

Glasgow started brightly enough, with Dan Lancaster a dangerous runner in the loose, but it was their driving maul which came the closest to the opening score.

The forwards looked destined for the try line, but another returning player, Max Douglas, was at the heart of the effort to disrupt it.

After surviving the early onslaught Scarlets dominated, with a well-taken five metre lineout paving the way for Macleod to score.

The scrum proved equally as impressive and afforded Sam Costelow the opportunity to add a penalty to his previous conversion.

He was back at the tee on the half hour mark as Glasgow's discipline started to crumble, so much so that Franco Smith made two replacements in the forwards, with Jamie Bhatti and Jare Oguntibeju heading for an early shower.

But the changes made little impact as Scarlets ended the half deserved of their 13 point lead.

Glasgow started to look more like a top four team after the break, but they lacked the clinical edge they had shown earlier in the season, with home debutant Iori Badham epitomising the defensive effort.

Gareth Davies and Costelow's kicking game was at the heart of Scarlets' success, with Badham's aerial challenge winning back possession to set up their second try.

Costelow spotted space in behind the defence and put through a cross-field kick which was gathered by Tomi Lewis, who stepped the last defender before finding Page in support.

After turning down other kickable penalties in search of a third try, Scarlets went for posts on 65 minutes to extend their lead, Costelow continuing a flawless night from the tee.

Scarlets were reduced to 14 players with 10 minutes to go when replacement Harvey Cuckson was shown a yellow after a string of offside offences, but even with the numerical advantage, Glasgow could not find a way through the dogged Scarlets defence and were left with a rare zero at the final whistle.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: "I'm happy for everyone because we obviously haven't had the best start to the season.

"We've worked hard over the last couple of weeks, it's also nice to get some senior players back in the group, you could see the leadership especially in the forward pack and we had Eddy James in the backline as well.

"I'm really pleased with our two wingers, they chased kicks and were really efficient. It's an overall performance we can be happy with."

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith said: "Scarlets looked well prepared, they played against Harlequins [in a friendly], we didn't have that luxury, we had too many players away with the national team.

"They are at the bottom of the table and had a point to prove. Even after Wales' loss against South Africa, I warned the boys that the Welsh are a proud nation and they will react tonight, they definitely put some pride in the jersey.

"Yes we made mistakes and had a young squad out there, but compliments to the Scarlets."

Scarlets: J Davies; Badham, Page, James, Lewis; Costelow, G Davies; Mathias, Elias, Holz, Ball, Lousi, Douglas, Macleod (capt), Anderson

Replacements: Van der Merwe, S O'Connor, H Thomas, Cuckson, Davis, Blacker, Leggatt-Jones, McDonald.

Glasgow: McKay; Rowe, Smith, McDowall (capt), Johnston; Lancaster, Afshar; Bhatti, Matthews, Schickerling, Craig, Oguntibeju, Brown, Fraser, Duncan

Replacements: Hiddleston, McBeth, Talakai, Williamson, Samuel, Miller, Horne, Hastings.

Sin bin: Cuckson (71 mins)

Referee: Chris Allison (South Africa)

Assistants: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales)

TMO: Morne Ferreira (South Africa).