PEEL'S PRIDE AS FAVOURITES END SCARLETS' PLAY-OFF HOPE

DWAYNE PEEL spoke of his pride despite the Scarlets being knocked out of the United Rugby Championship play-offs after a valiant defeat to top seeds Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

- BEN JAMES

First-half tries from Tom Rogers and Blair Murray saw Dwayne Peel’s side trail by just a point at the break. However, the pressure told in the second-half as the league leaders pushed ahead - even if Johnny Williams’ late score did briefly threaten a comeback.

Having reached the play-offs after finishing eighth in the league, the Scarlets were given a tough trip to Dublin to start the play-offs.

And, while they'll be disappointed with how it unfolded - particularly the second-half which saw their discipline falter as they lost two players to yellow cards - they'll be able to reflect on an 80 minutes where they rattled Leinster and a season where they made big strides forward.

Speaking afterwards Peel said he was proud of his side's efforts.

“I'm proud of the season as a whole,” he told BBC Wales. “Our big thing this year was we wanted to compete hard and I think we did that right up to the last minute of the last game.

“It was a tough game. At 15-14 at half-time, the first 10 minutes of that second-half, they probably got it technically and tactically right.

“We couldn't quite recover. We maybe didn’t have enough of the ball. I'm proud of the effort and the commitment we showed.

“This team are on the start of a journey. They’re young and they want to learn. They're obviously heartbroken in the changing room now. But I think there’s a lot more to come from this team.