It may be the new normal, but Macleod’s picked
THERE were more than a few standout moments during the Scarlets’ victory over Cardiff Blues on Saturday.
Yet one that perhaps went unnoticed by most was the incident soon after the 50-minute mark when Josh Macleod had just secured another breakdown penalty.
After the shrill whistle from Nigel Owens marked his intervention, the 23-year-old Scarlets flanker collapsed to the ground and just lay there on the
Parc y Scarlets turf. As he exhaled, he sprawled his arms out wide in an exhausted fashion like Arsenal legend Charlie George’s famous Christ-like celebration from the 1971 FA Cup final.
He looked physically spent, having been subjected to more of a battering than his body perhaps should have taken in a game where the new breakdown interpretations weren’t always followed too closely.
Yet, Macleod didn’t complain, nor did he stay on the ground too long.
A quick shout of ‘Keep going, Josh’ from the home coaches bench and Macleod sprung back to his feet, being quickly enveloped by team-mates delighted by his latest contribution.
It mattered little that the Scarlets were already 20 points to the good at this point. Macleod was straight back to the heart of the action.
In the world of the new ‘normal’, there’s been a lot of things which are taking some getting used to.
The lack of fans in the stadium is just one, for example.
Yet, for the Scarlets faithful, the continuing form of Macleod will be a crumb of comfort. Having been top of the PRO14 turnover charts before lockdown, he carried on like he was never away.
Naturally, there were bigger stories to come out of the post-match press conference – be it the brace of Steff Evans or the form of new signing Johnny Williams – but Glenn Delaney