Scarlets sweep aside Zebre with bonus-point win

Scarlets (24) 36

Tries: Taylor 2, Lousi, Page, Mee, Davis Cons: Leggatt-Jones 3

Zebre (0) 17

Scarlets came out on top of the United Rugby Championship (URC) basement battle, running in six tries against a lacklustre Zebre.

Jarrod Taylor, Sam Lousi, Macs Page and returning Wales wing Ellis Mee all crossed in a one-sided first half, with Zebre offering very little in attack.

Dan Davis restored order after Scarlets’ shaky start to the second half, before Simone Gesi hit back for the visitors.

Taylor added his second of the evening, while late tries from Bautista Stavile and David Odiase flattered the Zebre scoreline.

Bolstered by the return of six Wales internationals, Scarlets shot out of the blocks, scoring a try with a little over a minute played.

Zebre knocked-on from the kick-off to gift an attacking scrum, which saw Archie Hughes tear down the blindside before offloading to Taylor who shrugged off the last defender.

Scarlets continued to look threatening in perfect playing conditions and were back among the tries on 12 minutes, with the rangy Lousi peeling off the back of a driving maul.

Some poor kicking afforded Zebre some territory, but as they looked to be edging closer to the tryline, Tom Rogers ripped the ball and launched a counter-attack. Player of the match Archer Holz carried well before Hughes popped a simple pass for Page to cross.

The bonus point was wrapped up just before half-time, Holz led the decimation of the visiting scrum which allowed Leggatt-Jones to kick Scarlets deep into Zebre territory.

Zebre put up more resistance after the break, boosted by the early introduction of their bench, including Odiase who came on for Italy against Wales last weekend.

Their pack twice crossed the tryline, but twice the ball was held up including a heroic effort from the skipper Josh Macleod.

Scarlets weathered the storm and added a fifth try after some poor Zebre discipline gave them a five-metre driving line-out, with Davis touching down from the base.

Zebre responded just after the hour mark after Gesi found space down his wing, but they fell asleep on the restart, with Page pouncing onto the loose ball before offloading to Taylor who showed some neat footwork to cross.

And as the game seemed to be fizzling out, Page appeared to have scored an absolutely worldie, breaking from inside his own half and pulling off a perfect chip and chase before diving over.

Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, Page, Williams, Mee; Leggatt-Jones, A Hughes; Mathias, Elias, Holz, Lousi, Douglas, Taylor, Macleod (capt), Anderson.

Replacements: Van der Merwe, Henry Thomas, Hawley, Price, Davis, Blacker, Hawkins, I Jones.

Zebre: Belloni; Batista, Zanon, Mazza, Gesi; Da Re, Garcia; Buonfiglio, Ribaldi, Pieretto, Canali, Ortombina, Stavile, Bianchi, Ferrari.

Replacements: Quattrini, Pitinari, Neculai, Ruggeri, Odiase, Dominguez, Roger Farias, Bertaccini.

Referee: Peter Martin (IRFU)

Assistants: Craig Evans & Max Clements (WRU)