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Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac has revealed why the Region were unable to keep Canadian wing DTH van der Merwe.

The 30-year-old is leaving at the end of the season to join Newcastle Falcons having made a big impact in Llanelli since joining from Glasgow two years ago.

Pivac, who confirmed WalesOnline's story that centre Hadleigh Parkes is staying despite interest from Cardiff Blues, said the Scarlets couldn't complete with the offer van der Merwe has received from England.

“We are not re-signing DTH,” he said. “That is on the basis of where he is in his career, which I totally understand.

“He is joining the fire service and has three years left in rugby before he has to make that call because you have to be of a certain age.

“He has looked at a three-year contract and the money in England is a lot more than here so he is doing the right thing for his family and we support that.

“We have got some good young players coming through the system here at the club that we are going to put a lot of time and effort into over the next 12 months and I think there are some exciting talent you will see, some players who aren’t far off the ability of Steff Evans, who is playing well for us at the moment.

“Ryan Conbeer, Corey Baldwin and Ioan Nicholas are three players who are all in the Wales Under-20s frame and who we believe have big futures in the game.

“It is one of the ones where you weigh up the financial side of things.

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“DTH and I had a good chat about it, we are on the same page. We put in an offer to keep DTH, but as I said, with the money in England it is a no-brainer for him and with the young guys we have got coming through, do we go and pump more money in or back the guys we have got here? We have made that decision.”

Meanwhile on Parkes, Pivac added: “There was talk about the Blues, they showed interest in him, but Hadleigh has been secured and will be at the club for the next few years.”