By Rhia Hebbard
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel admitted he was “gutted” after watching his side come so close to beating big-spending Bristol Bears in their Champions Cup clash.
A 54th minute try by Wales win Louis Rees-Zammit ultimately proved decisive in 17-16 defeat, and Peel was left to rue missed opportunities.
He said: “It was a real scrap of a game, but we were not as clinical in that last period.
“There was a couple of set-piece opportunities which we didn’t nail, and a pretty soft try form them off the scrum as well.
“First half, two tries disallowed is really disappointing in a big momentum swing in the game.”
“There was a lot of good in our game, and I think we’ve got to capitalise. We’re definitely taking steps forward, that is the positive but at this point we’re really gutted with a loss.
“I’d be hoping that 7,000 poeple go away, thinking that their team put a massive fight tonight.
“I was really proud of the effort we put into the game.”
Peel stressed what a bonus it is for Scarlets to be back in the European top tier competition.
“It’s awesome. We’ve had a really good week in terms of excitement and building into it” Peel said.
“We can see that we belong here, so it is a massive opportunity. It is a massive game next week and a massive challenge for us going to Bordeaux.
“I think we’re taking steps forward and that we imposed our game plan well against a team (Bristol) who score a lot of points in their league.
“We made them work really hard for their points today, as they did us as well. It was a real scrap of a game, it’s not a typical game, you watched Bristol play really.”