Steve Tandy insists the Ospreys can upset the odds and make the Guinness Pro12 final, despite their record defeat to the Scarlets and a major injury concern over Dan Biggar.
Tandy saw his team hammered 40-17 at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday – their fifth defeat in six matches – and they will now travel to face Munster on May 20 in their semi-final.
Biggar could be missing for that game if assessments on Monday for an ankle injury bring unwelcome news and there must also be a doubt over his place on the Lions tour after he limped off early in the second-half.
But despite their fading strength – the region have conceded 130 points in their last five games – Tandy remains defiant and says they can prove the doubters wrong in Limerick against the top team in the Pro12.
He said: “We know how difficult they are to play, with a powerful and a passionate crowd.
“Looking at it, everyone apart from the people in our changing room won’t think we can do it so we have something to prove. It’s a semi-final and we’re pretty excited.
“We’re disappointed about today but there’s nothing we can do about it. But over a 22 game season, and where we came from last year, we’re pretty pleased with it.”
For the Scarlets, the result was confirmation that they have replaced the Ospreys as the current best team in Wales and they will go to Dublin to face Leinster in their play-off semi-final with the confidence that comes from winning 10 of their last 11 matches in the league.
The winning margin of 23 points eclipsed Scarlets’ previous biggest win over their local rivals, 30-17 in 2006 and was a fitting send-off in front of a jubilant crowd of 13,326 for departing Scarlets Liam Williams and DTH van der Merwe.
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac said: “I’m very pleased. We’ve been building nicely and I was pleased with the way the boys continued to push to score tries and I thought we left a few out there in the first half.
“A record win means a lot for the region. I understand what it means to the locals and it certainly was one we’ll hold dearly for a while because it was a very good performance.”
The home side secured a bonus point, scoring five tries through Will Boyde, Steffan Evans, Aaron Shingler, Johnny McNicholl and Jonathan Davies. Rhys Patchell supplied three conversions and three penalty goals.
Ospreys could only manage two tries through Keelan Giles and Dan Baker with Dan Biggar, who limped off in the second, kicking a penalty and a conversion. Dan Evans added another conversion.
Wales star Williams played his final game at Parc y Scarlets before he moves to Saracens but Ospreys skipper Alun Wyn Jones was still missing after six weeks out with a shoulder problem.
The dominant Scarlets took a 23-10 lead into the interval despite having two tries ruled out.
Biggar kicked a penalty goal from the 22 after Scarlets had conceded a penalty for blocking after only 17 seconds.
On five minutes, Ken Owens was put over in the left corner but the TV match official deemed the Scarlets captain went into touch. Patchell gained some consolation with a penalty goal on six minutes.
However, Ospreys went into a 10-3 lead when Giles came off his wing to take an inside ball and go over for a try which Biggar converted.
But after that Scarlets dominated most of the half as they got the upper hand up front.
Patchell converted penalties on 17 and 23 minutes before Ospreys suffered a major setback on 28 minutes when Rhys Webb was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Owens.
With the extra man, Scarlets full-back Johnny McNicholl went over for what looked like a good try but referee Nigel Owens ruled it out for a knock-on in the build-up.
But that mattered little as Scarlets scored two tries in the space of three minutes at the end of the half. Boyde went over in the left corner after fine build-up work, before Gareth Davies broke from a scrum in his own half and Jonathan Davies put Steff Evans in. Patchell converted both scores.
Patchell missed two penalties after the break but Scarlets dominated all phases as they scored three second-half tries. The first came from Aaron Shingler, who finished off a fluent handling move involving Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams.
Two more tries came in the space of three minutes through McNicholl and Jonathan Davies. Just before the end, Baker grabbed a consolation try for the visitors converted by Evans.
Tandy added: “We had a lot of injuries and didn’t implement some of the things we wanted to do, but in fairness to the Scarlets every time we turned over the ball they looked like they were going to score.
“Over a 22-week season we’ve got to the semi-finals, we’ve definitely stuttered of late, but ultimately the Scarlets thoroughly deserved their win.”
Scarlets: Johnny Mcnicholl; Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Samson Lee, Lewis Rawlins, Tadhg Beirne, Aaron Shingler, Josh Macleod, Will Boyde.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Werner Kruger, David Bulbring, Tom Price, Jonathan Evans, Hadleigh Parkes, DTH van der Merwe.
Ospreys: Dan Evans; Keelan Giles, Kieron Fonotia, Josh Matavesi, Tom Habberfield; Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb (capt); Nicky Smith, Scott Baldwin, Rhodri Jones, Bradley Davies, Tyler Ardron, Sam Underhill, Justin Tipuric, James King.
Replacements: Scott Otten, Paul James, Dan Suter, Lloyd Ashley, Dan Baker, Brendon Leonard, Jonathan Spratt, Dafydd Howells.
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)
Assistant referees: Dan Jones (WRU), Wayne Davies (WRU).
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)