The Scarlets’ four points at the weekend takes them to 21 points in the Magners League and within two points of third-placed Welsh region the Cardiff Blues on 23 –with the Scarlets still having a game in hand. Leinster top the Magners League table on 34 points, the Ospreys slipped to third on 33 after the weekend and the Dragons are in sixth position on 29.

The Scarlets will have a crunch match against the Cardiff Blues at home at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday April 17th and will be hoping for a strong home support.

Head Coach Nigel Davies said: “The Blues game here at Parc y Scarlets is going to be a massive game – it is all very tight at the moment and with six games still to go, there is a lot to play for over the next few weeks but we will take each game as it comes. It’s certainly going to be an exciting race to the finish for supporters to follow.

“There is a young bunch here at the Scarlets and there is a lot of pressure on us, but the players are at a stage now where they have to cope with that pressure as professional rugby players. Yes, we put on a bit of pressure on them last week to step up to the mark as individuals and collectively and to a certain extent they have done that with this performance. There are still some issues with communication on the field which once we put right, we make us even stronger as a unit.”

And man-of-the-match 19-year-old scrum-half Tavis Knoyle was praised as a ‘special talent’ by Davies after an eye-catching performance throughout the Ulster encounter both in attack and defence.

“We are glad we’ve got Tavis Knoyle – he’s had a couple of injuries this season and it’s good to see him back now and tonight he showed that he’s a special talent. I was around as a coach when both Mike Philips and Dwayne Peel came through our system and he is of a similar quality to both of them at this age (19).

“We want to have strength in depth in every position and our nine position is starting to look a lot stronger than it has been for some time - to have two players of the quality of Martin Roberts and Tavis Knoyle is very important for us. If we are going to move forward as a team, we have to strive to have competition in every position and we will be looking to achieve that throughout the squad.”

Davies said that the exposure that some of the younger players such as Dominic Day, who achieved his 50th appearance landmark against Ulster on Friday, have had throughout this season in key games will accelerate their development.

“I’ve seen it throughout my coaching career, that when you give young players the opportunities, nine times out of ten they will come through strongly for you – if you don’t play them at this level and in key games they will never develop as they need to.”

And alongside some youthful Scarlets flair, valuable experience in the form of Matthew Rees, David Lyons and Iestyn Thomas played a crucial role ensuring the team held firm throughout the 80 minutes.

Scarlets Captain David Lyons said: “We would have liked to have taken five points out of that game with a bonus point win but from where we have come from, it was good that we played rugby for 80 minutes in the right areas which is something we haven’t been doing earlier in the season.

“We have been unearthing a lot of the young talent this season and its great to see them perform very well – some of them with their first big opportunity at the Ulster game like Tavis Knoyle, Andy Fenby and Joe Ajuwa on the wing - who played really well considering it was his first proper start for us.”