Buchanan hopes win is boost for capital tester
LLANELLI hope their British & Irish Cup win over Gala can inject some momentum into their Premiership season.
The West Walians ran in five tries to sweep the Scots aside 38-28 on Saturday, keeping their hopes of staying the competition alive after losing their opening encounter to Moseley.
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"The most important thing for us was to win and get the bonus point, which keeps us in the competition," said Llanelli's head of rugby Anthony Buchanan.
"The team changes a lot at the moment and it's showing — we're not cohesive in our game-plan.
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"That put us in a bit of trouble but I think we battled well.
"One thing we're not short of is commitment.
"What we've got to do is keep to our game-plan and we'll be a handful for any team."
Having lost to Llandovery in their last Premiership outing, Llanelli are currently fifth in the league table.
They visit free-scoring Cardiff on Saturday, and Buchanan's side will be hoping winger Kristian Phillips will be in the kind of form he was against Gala.
The Scarlets' summer signing from the Ospreys was brilliant at the weekend, scoring two long-distance tries and creating another for Aled Davies.
"Kristian showed he has a lot of pace and the ability to see the opportunities to score," said Buchanan.
"To be fair to him, he can finish anything off from almost any distance. Hopefully we can see some more of him.
"That's our strength, playing wide. We've got pace to burn.
"It would be nice to get a few players back for our game against Cardiff next weekend.
"Hopefully we can put our league campaign back on track."
One negative from last weekend's match was an injury to Jordan Williams, who had to leave the field with a dislocated shoulder.
The promising Scarlets full-back will definitely miss the trip to Cardiff, but the length of his absence has yet to be confirmed.
There was a healthy crowd at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday, though there was a feeling from some that it could have been even bigger.
The Scarlets had played Leinster at the same venue earlier the same day, but fans who wanted to watch Llanelli had to pay for an extra ticket to watch the British & Irish Cup tie.
Gala were supported by a large and vocal travelling contingent and, although Llanelli might have wished for a more sizeable backing, Buchanan was merely happy with the victory.
"Maybe more people would have stayed if it was free," he said.
"The people who were interested stayed behind and we were pretty pleased with it.
"I was hoping there would be some Leinster fans here but I don't think any of them stayed.
"It's one of those things. I couldn't say if it was a success or a failure but we were very happy with the result."
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