The Scarlets currently sit bottom of the United Rugby Championship after a string of poor results
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel insists he is the right man to turn around the west Walians’ ailing fortunes.
The Scarlets find themselves sitting bottom of the United Rugby Championship, having won just two matches all season. Festive derby defeats to Ospreys and Dragons has only piled more pressure on the former Wales scrum-half.
Last season saw the Scarlets finish as the highest-placed Welsh side, sneaking into the top eight to make the play-offs and reach this season’s Champions Cup.
However, that was the first time the Scarlets finished in the top half of the table under Peel – having been 10th, 14th and 13th in his three previous campaigns.
When asked if he felt he was safe in his job, having won around 35% of his matches in the URC since taking over the Scarlets in 2021, Peel said: “This is professional sport and I understand your questioning around this.
“We’re here to work hard and improve the team. So what we’ve done over the last couple of seasons is transition the team. We’ve made a big transition in terms of some senior internationals leaving and bringing in some young guys.
“It’s a project that isn’t going to be a three-month turnaround. Are we happy with where we finished last season?
“Yeah, we were probably on track with where we wanted to go and haven’t kicked on this season. There’s reasons behind that, with some high profile injuries.
“But we’re working hard and I honestly feel we’ve taken a step forward since the autumn internationals. I know we’ve had two bad results, but my focus is on the next game and improving this team.”
Peel was then asked if he was the right man to turn around the Scarlets’ fortunes, with the former Wales scrum-half emphatically answering: “Yes.”
Heading into the second batch of European fixtures against Pau and Northampton Saints, the Scarlets still have the opportunity to reach the knockout stages in Europe.
However, whether they get out of the pool stage or not, finding some form for the latter half of the season will be crucial.
“If you lose a couple of games, the spotlight will turn on you and I get that it comes with the job,” added Peel. “As a group and as a club, my job is to fight hard and make sure that we’re better prepared going in to games.
“In terms of work ethic and what we’ve been doing off the field, we’ve worked hard on that. Obviously we’ve lost the last two games, which is putting a spotlight on us a bit.
“And we need to react and that’s the thing for me. How we react now will define us, rather than letting the last two games define us.
“There’s still a lot of rugby to be played this season and we’ve got two exciting challenges ahead of us.”
Peel was caught by the TV cameras cutting a despondent figure in the dying minutes of the New Year’s Day defeat to the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
“I’ve shown a bit of emotion on the game but it is what it is,” he said. “What’s important is what we do after it.
“Obviously we were frustrated with elements of our game. We weren’t near our best and that is the thing that we need to put right.
“I think we’ve built steadily over the last few weeks and we’re disappointed with the last two results. From my perspective and the club’s perspective, we’re obviously not happy with where we are in the table.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to say that, but there’s a lot of rugby to be played this season and we need to get momentum back. After Cardiff, I think we were all jubilant, but the last two games have probably taken the wind out of that a bit. It’s important to get back to work and turn the momentum around again.”
He added: “We’re in it together. I’m here as their coach. Like I said to the boys after the game, this has been a disappointing week for us.
“Everyone’s feeling that hurt. It’s it is part of professional sport, unfortunately. You do get periods where you’re on top, you do get periods where you lose games.
“And we’ve lost two games. What we need to do is get back on the horse and make sure that we improve in training, we improve off the field, and ultimately the results will come if performances are nearer the standard that we expect.”