This seventh edition of the championship was played with a four-country format and it might have not be obvious to bet on a Welsh team to succeed in a competition that had been mostly dominated by Ireland. But if you had look a bit closer, you would have seen that the Scarlets had signed big names before the start of the season: Rhys Patchell, Werner Kruger, Jonathan Evans and Jonathan Davies, being back from Clermont, where he was playing in the French Top 14. The favourites had a solid start of their season. As per usual - almost - Munster and Leinster took the two first positions of the ranking table. And then, surprise - or not - Scarlets and Ospreys completed the top four. Four teams qualified for the semis. No Italy, no Scotland.
An unforgettable prowess
After a strong season, Scarlets became a dangerous team and definitely a hard one to beat! In the regular games, they had only lost to Ospreys and to Leinster, winning a capital game to Munster at Thomond Park (21-30).
A good preparation before what was to come: the play-offs.
Firstly, they got their revenge to Leinster (15-27) at the RDS Arena, getting three tries very early on and heading to a tumultuous final. More than a good preparation.
Having already won to Munster probably gave the welsh team more confidence, but this final was almost a walk in a park. They produced a brilliant display to defeat Munster in the Dublin final.
With an attendance of almost 45,000 people at the Aviva Stadium, they didn’t get scared, producing a spell of superb passing and attacking prowess which saw them quickly take the lead.
Liam Williams delivered an amazing performance, showing the way and scoring the opening try for what was to be his last game with the team before heading to the Saracens in England. Soon, he was imitated by Steff Evans, who scored his 11th try of the season, making him best scorer, helping his team to bring their first title since 2004.
A memorable triumph.
