Scarlets fans defiant as WRU restructuring plan threatens west Wales clubs
Supporters at Parc y Scarlets sang through a home try against Cardiff even as the Welsh Rugby Union's proposal to cut a professional club by 2028 leaves Scarlets and Ospreys facing an uncertain future, Guardian Rugby Union reports.
Parc y Scarlets was in full voice on Saturday night as the home side scored against Cardiff, even as the club braces for a Welsh Rugby Union proposal that could see it cease to exist by 2028, according to Guardian Rugby Union.
The scrum-half Dane Blacker broke through a gap in the Cardiff defence before feeding the lock Sam Lousi, who offloaded out the back of his hand to the centre Joe Roberts. Roberts juggled the ball between his hands before gathering it in and touching down in the corner to put Scarlets 5-0 ahead.
The stands responded with a run of traditional songs, Sosban Fach among them, alongside Hymns and Arias and repeated chants of "Scarlets! Scarlets! Scarlets!", the report describes.
According to the Guardian, a chant naming Dave Reddin also went round the ground that night, a sign of how the mood among supporters has hardened over the union's plans.
At the heart of that mood is the WRU's proposal to reduce the number of professional clubs in Wales by cutting one by 2028, with Scarlets and their west Wales neighbours Ospreys identified as the sides facing the chop.
Andy Bull's report from Llanelli describes a sense of bewilderment inside the ground that these two clubs, rather than others, have been placed on the list, and frames the reaction building around Parc y Scarlets as a mutiny in the making.
The piece situates that discontent firmly in west Wales, where, as the report puts it, the game runs in people's blood, underlining the scale of what a reduction in provincial sides would mean locally.
No resolution to the WRU's proposal is reported, and the fixture itself is presented as a snapshot of a club playing on while its long-term future is decided elsewhere.