North stars as Scarlets back to winning ways

WALES wing George North made a try-scoring return from injury as the Scarlets ended a run of six straight defeats in all competitions with a narrow Magners League victory at Parc y Scarlets.

The 18-year-old went over for what proved a crucial score in the first half in his first match for three months since undergoing shoulder surgery.

Scarlets’ Dan Newton had opened the scoring with an early penalty, and the fly-half added another after the break to establish some breathing space. David Blair scored Edinburgh’s only points with a first-half penalty.

SCARLETS: D Evans; G North; R King, S Williams, J Ajuwa; D Newton, G Davies; I Thomas (capt), R Lawrence, R Thomas; L Reed, D Welch; A Shingler, J Edwards, B Morgan.

Replacements: L Rhys for D Evans (71), R Jones for I Thomas (70), S Gardner for R Thomas (60), R Pugh for Welch (64).

EDINBURGH: J Thompson; L Jones, B Cairns, J King, T Visser; D Blair, G Laidlaw (capt); L Niven, A Kelly, D Young; S MacLeod, S Turnbull; F McKenzie, N Talei, A MacDonald.

Replacements: T Brown for Thompson (56), S Webster for L Jones (46), K Traynor for Niven (40), E Lozada for MacLeod (60), R Grant for MacDonald (76).

Referee: D Phillips (Ireland).