Having beaten the Pirates 18-10 at home a week earlier the Scarlets travelled to Mennaye Field in Penzance full of hope and got off to a flying start. Ioan Nicholas ran in a try that Jacob Botica converted off the touchline and then the RGC 1404 outside half kicked a penalty to stun the home side.
That, unfortunately, was as good as it got for the Scarlets. No 8 Tom Duncan crashed over for a try just before the break to half the deficit and then added a second nine minutes into the second half, and a minute after Shaun Evans had been sent to the sin-bin.
There were four more tries as the Pirates got into their rhythm and Laurence May added four conversions to complete the comeback. The Pirates are now top of the pool with the same points as Ulster A, with the Scarlets four points behind in third.
The Ospreys suffered last minute heartbreak at The Gnoll as they went down to a 17-15 defeat to Nottingham thanks to a last minute penalty from Tiff Eden. The home side lost two players, Jay Williams and Matthew Dodd, to the sin-bin in a frantic finale and that allowed the visiting outside half to step up and bag his side’s first win in the tournament.
Luke Price gave the Ospreys a handy 10-0 lead with a try, conversion and penalty. Eden kicked a penalty, but then failed to convert a try on the stroke of half-time from Dave Williams and so the home side had their noses in front 10-8 at the break. Eden kicked his side into the lead with a second penalty early in the second half, but a neat chip from Price allowed Harri Morgan to regather and charge over to regain the lead at 15-14.
It remained tight to the finish before the Nottingham driving line-out created havoc at the end and enable Eden to step up and kick the winning penalty.
Four second half tries allowed Yorkshire Carnegie to complete the double over the Dragons PS XV, 20-17, after they had slipped to a 14-0 interval deficit on the plastic pitch at Ystrad Mynach.
The Dragons, beaten 43-22 in Yorkshire last weekend and still without a win in the British & Irish Cup this season, hit the front after only five minutes when centre Connor Edwards crossed for the opening try. On the stroke of half-time his midfield partner, Jarryd Sage, marked his Dragons debut with a try that once again Angus O’Brien converted to give the home side a handy lead to take into the second half.
But the visitors finally got their act together after the break and used their powerful driving maul to good effect to help haul themselves back into the contest. Trystan Lloyd was the first to convert a driving line-out and then Matt Smith followed suit to cut the gap to four points.
The visitors made it three tries in 15 minutes when they finally hit the front on the hour mark when replacement scrum half Oliver Fox scored within five minutes of coming on. His try came while the Dragons were one man down following Josh Skinner’s yellow card for a high tackle.
O’Brien knocked over a 66th minute penalty to restore the Dragons’ lead, but a fantastic solo try from Darren Atkins sealed the win for the visitors.
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Wales Under 20 centre Harri Millard scored a hat-trick of tries for the Cardiff Blues Premiership Select XV, but it still wasn’t enough to stop his side slipping to a 42-27 defeat to Doncaster Knights at Sardis Road.
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The visitors had run in 10 tries in a massive 70-12 first-leg triumph on home soil, but ran into a much more determined Blues side who took the lead with a third minute try from skipper Lewis Jones. That was the first of five tries for the home side, with lock Callum Bradbury also getting in on the act in the first half.
There was only one conversion, however, while all six of the Knights’ tries were improved by the boot of Declan Cusack. The Knights scored three tries in each half and led 21-10 at the break. At 35-22 there seemed to be hope for Justin Burnell’s Blues side, but the Knights scored their final try in injury time to seal the deal.
