Scarlets coach Nigel Davies has paid tribute to his players following their 31-17 Heineken Cup victory over Stade Francais on Sunday.
Coach praises performance but adds there is much to do
Scarlets coach Nigel Davies has paid tribute to his players following their 31-17 Heineken Cup victory over Stade Francais at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday.
Davies said his players were 'outstanding' during the match but admitted they still had a long way to go after ending an 11-match run without a win.
"We knew that individually we would have to play at the top of our game and collectively we would have to do the same," he said.
"I think we showed what we are potentially capable of. We said that today was about putting in a performance for 80 minutes and I think we did that.
"I thought the guys had complete belief in themselves and the performance was outstanding but we have still got a lot to do."
Powerful
Davies singled out Jon Davies for special praise after the centre went in for two of the Scarlets' three tries.
"He has got a huge amount of pace in his game and he is powerful. We saw what Jon is capable of moving forward."
The Welsh region is already out of European contention after three defeats and a draw in Pool Four.
But Davies hopes that Sunday's success, which served only to boost Harlequins' Pool Four chances, will provide a springboard for recovery.
"We have done Harlequins a favour, but it was more about us and re-establishing some European credentials."
Skipper Simon Easterby added: "It was a long time coming, but we now have to build on the momentum and the performance.
"The new stadium is starting to feel like home now and we want to build on that."
Disappointed
The result ended Stade Francais' hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the competition, leaving coach Ewan McKenzie deeply unhappy with this side's performance.
"We weren't good enough," he said. "We weren't even in the same street.
"I'm very disappointed. I thought we were very soft at the start of the game. Once they got 13 points up it was going to be very hard.
"We didn't go out there to play stupid football early on, but we just never got out of the blocks in the physical stakes.
"The key players played well for them and we didn't do much at all.
"In a big game we have come up short and we will have to look at that to see the reasons why."
