Understudy is ready to take opportunity in his stride

RHYS Priestland was given just 15 minutes' notice that he would be taking over fly-half duties against the Dragons last Friday.

At Connacht tomorrow he begins an extended spell in which to impress while Stephen Jones is away on international duty.

Jones's late withdrawal because of a neck injury thrust an unprepared Priestland into the thick of it at Parc y Scarlets six days ago as he left it late to swap a place on the bench for a starting spot.

But the Wales Under-20 international was unfazed by his sudden elevation or the miserable conditions as he kicked six penalties from six to hand the Scarlets an 18-3 victory.

"To be fair, Stephen gave me plenty of notice — it must have been 15 minutes," joked Priestland.

"It was a bit of a shock when I turned up because I had no idea in the day.

"Steve said his neck was a bit sore, he's tried to take painkillers and things, but it was no good.

"When you train with the team all week, you all go through the calls and everyone knows what the game plan is, so I wasn't going in blind.

"My kicking certainly improved from what it has been and we were just really pleased to get a win, because being down the bottom of the league there was a lot of pressure on that game for us.

"Kicking is something I've worked hard on in the past couple of weeks.

"I've been kicking well and I'm just glad things started to go a bit better for me."

As the rain lashed and the wind swirled at Parc y Scarlets, Nigel Davies's side were forced to switch to less eye-catching tactics to secure a win against the Gwent outfit.

With Connacht's Sportsground a venue notoriously open to the elements, a similar approach may again be required tomorrow — and Priestland's kicking will be relied upon once more.

"I've played at Connacht twice and the weather hasn't been great either time, so I'm not expecting glorious sunshine," he added.

"Kicking's a big part of the game. Last Friday we couldn't get our kicking game going, we couldn't get out of our half — and that put a lot of pressure on the team.

"In the second half we managed to turn things around and it shows how important a good kicking game can be."