Scarlets

“It’s a sobering one, we knew Stormers were going to be a good side, and we needed to be at our very best to be able to compete. We weren’t that.

“That’s what happens when you’re up against the bigger teams, the best teams – if you’re not at maximum, it’s going to be a difficult night.”

Peel is concerned by an ever-growing injury list, with Tristan Davies and Max Douglas the latest casualties.

“The injury side of things is tough at the minute. We lost two locks again [against Stormers], the only two locks who were fit, so we’ll just have to see where we are when we travel to South Africa on Tuesday,” said Peel.

“I’m unclear at the minute as to the extent but Tristan has an HIA (head injury assessment) and Max Douglas looks like he’s hurt a rib. He’s in quite a bit of pain in the changing room.”

“It will be a tough couple of days for the medics I’m sure.”

Peel did not rule out more short-term signings, after bringing in lock Steve Cummins on loan from Dragons to cover the absences of Jake Ball, Sam Lousi, Jac Price and Will Evans.

Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw have been ruled out of Leinster’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Scarlets at Aviva Stadium on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Leinster said prop Furlong is unavailable after picking up a “minor calf injury” while centre Henshaw has sustained a knee injury which could keep him out for four weeks.

In more positive news, Jordan Larmour is in contention to feature after being sidelined for five months with a hamstring injury.

The 27-year-old wing, who has 32 Ireland caps, has been restricted to just five appearances this season, the last of which came against Munster on 27 December.

Furlong has also endured an injury-plagued campaign. The 32-year-old has only managed eight appearances for Leinster while calf and hamstring issues restricted him to just one substitute appearance in Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.

Despite his lack of game time, he was named in Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions squad last month.

Furlong started all three Tests in the 2017 and 2021 Lions series in New Zealand and South Africa.

Leinster are top seeds in the URC play-offs after finishing the regular season top of the standings, but fell to a shock 35-22 loss to Scarlets in Llanelli last month.

Ospreys and Scarlets have accused the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) of making a U-turn after the governing body announced it will move away from a model of four evenly funded professional sides.

WRU bosses say they now intend to implement a new two-tier funding system a decision which Ospreys say has “created more destabilising and debilitating uncertainty in our game”.

Ospreys and Scarlets did not sign up to Welsh rugby’s new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) by the deadline of 8 May.

The agreement was signed by Dragons and Cardiff, who were last month taken over by the WRU having served formal notification that they intended to enter administration.

Last week Ospreys and Scarlets said they had asked the WRU for assurances that the takeover “will not disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs”.

After Ospreys and Scarlets had not signed, WRU have served a two-year notice on the current agreement that underpins the Welsh professional game.

That current PRA runs out in 2027 although it was due to be superseded by the new five-year deal.

On Sunday, the WRU released a statement saying that with those clubs not signing by the deadline set, it had therefore taken the “difficult but necessary decision to issue the formal two-year notice to terminate the current PRA agreement in order, in particular, to proceed with its debt refinancing.”

The governing body made the announcement amid reports it intends to cut a team from its professional tier.

The WRU has neither confirmed nor denied if cutting a team is part of its plans.