Zebre 24-41 Scarlets: Welsh side show clinical edge to see off spirited Italians

The Scarlets ran out comfortable 41-24 winners over Zebre in Parma on Saturday afternoon.

It was loose in the opening 15 minutes and both teams had their chances to attack the opposition line. Dwayne Peel’s side opened the scoring in the 15th minute after a half break from young centre Joe Roberts led to a Zebre infringement, with Rhys Patchell knocking over the three-pointer.

But the Welsh side were having it far from their own way and the hosts actually saw more of the ball and enjoyed more territory in the first 40, despite how the half would play out.

Their best spell came around the 20 minute mark, when they were camped in the Scarlets half for a number of minutes, coming within a metre or two of scoring before replacement scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani was bundled into touch.

Then, against the run of play, came the first try. Carlo Canna turned the ball over around the halfway line and red jerseys shipped it wide to Gareth Davies. He offloaded to Corey Baldwin, who skinned two Zebre defenders and cantered in from 35 metres out. Patchell converted.

Zebre fly-half Canna hit back from the tee shortly after but once again the hosts gave their visitors a bit of a gift in the 28th minute. They overthrew a lineout just inside the Scarlets half and some nice hands from Tomas Lezana and Patchell created acres of space out wide. Accurate passing put winger Ryan Conbeer in space and he finished well out wide, despite a high tackle from opposite man Giovanni D’Onofrio. Patchell converted well from the touchline.

Just after the half hour mark, Zebre were masters of their own downfall again. Scott Williams ripped possession away from the hosts in their own 22 and a clever kick from McNicholl led to Canna walking the ball into