I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It. Coach Demands Probe After Humiliating Defeat from the Stormers

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Scarlets coach Dwayne Peel admits his side were outplayed in every department after a chastening 34-0 defeat to the Stormers in Llanelli on Friday night.

LLANELLI, UNITED KINGDOM – OCTOBER 10: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu of Stormers takes on Blair Murray of Scarlets during the United Rugby Championship match between Llanelli Scarlets and DHL Stormers at Parc y Scarlets on October 10, 2025 in Llanelli, United Kingdom. (Photo by Gareth Everett/Gallo Images)

Peeldescribed the result as a “sobering night” for his team, who slumped to a second home loss of the campaign.

“We needed to be at our very best to compete against a very good side and we weren’t,” said Peel. “It was a sobering night for us.”

The Stormers’ dominance up front and accuracy under the high ball left the Scarlets struggling to gain a foothold. Peel credited the South Africans’ set-piece strength and breakdown power for setting the benchmark in the competition.

“I thought the Stormers were excellent. Their set-piece work was exceptional, as good as I’ve seen with that power. Their maul and scrum put us under a lot of pressure; they went to the air a lot, contradictory to what you normally see from the Stormers, and their physicality around our breakdown was also very good.

That is the standard we need to chase – they are setting that standard in the league at the moment.”

Peel conceded his side failed to capitalise on early opportunities and lacked composure in attack.

“There are areas in our game within our control which we need to be better at. When we had the ball, we forced it at times and looked a bit ragged. We lost a couple of lineouts in their 22 early on, we didn’t get into our game at all, we didn’t have any momentum.”

Injuries also added to the Scarlets’ woes, with Tristan Davies undergoing an HIA and Max Douglas picking up a rib injury ahead of the team’s tour to South Africa for matches against the Lions and Sharks.

“The injury side of things is tough at the minute,” Peel said. “We have lost another two locks tonight so we have to see where we are before we travel to South Africa on Tuesday. The rugby gods sometimes go against you in certain positions.”

Despite the setbacks, the coach called for perspective and resilience as the Scarlets look to regroup.

“We need to keep working hard and moving forward. We’ve lost two games, but three months ago we had the same fixtures in South Africa and the tour went pretty well for us. We also beat the Bulls here last season.

:We have to go there, look to improve as a rugby team and enjoy each other’s company off the field.”