Davies: We’ll come to play ball in Limerick

SCARLETS head coach Nigel Davies promised his side would travel to Thomond Park on Sunday with “all guns blazing” in an effort to get their Heineken Cup pool campaign back on track following this defeat to Munster.

Davies was a frustrated figure at Parc y Scarlets following the 17-14 defeat by the Irish province that ended the Welsh region’s winning start in Pool 1 and left them two points behind Munster after three games.

Taking heart from Scarlets’ bonus-point win at Northampton in round two last month, the Scarlets boss said his young side would go for broke in Limerick, in a bid to return to the expansive style Munster had stifled in Wales on Saturday.

“It’s a very tough place to go but we will go there all guns blazing and we’ll have a crack at it as we did against Northampton. We’re not hiding away from what we’re trying to do here. We’re making huge progress, I firmly believed we could have won it before the game and we could have won the game if we were accurate. We just weren’t accurate enough. This was Test-level intensity and there’s no margin for error but there were too many (errors) in our game.”

Davies said he was confident his team, which will probably be boosted by the return to fitness of exciting teenage wing George North, had the ability to win at Thomond Park if it could tighten up its discipline and focus as well as rekindle Rhys Priestland’s goal-kicking form.

“We weren’t accurate enough and we had a couple of chances in the first 20 minutes we weren’t sharp enough at taking, and we left eight points place-kicking-wise and you can’t afford to do that against Munster,” said Davies.

“But we have always seen this as a two-match series and we have to go out there and get something from the game.

“We have got the team to beat them. We will go out there and give it a crack but we have to be sharper and more accurate. I felt the biggest issue was the contact area and particularly when they had the ball it was very difficult for us to get anywhere near it. It’s got to be a fair contest but if we can do that these days we’ll do it ourselves.”

Davies also praised Munster’s attitude away from home, suggesting it was something his players must emulate this weekend.

“We were frustrated and we’ve just to show more composure in those areas, it was a lack of accuracy and composure that let us down. We were playing at a very high level against a team that’s used to bringing that intensity with and without the ball and they pressurise you. And that’s why they win matches.

“There’s still a lot of points in this tournament for us. We’ve got to be positive.”