Celtic League: Munster will be hoping bad luck does not come in threes after crashing to a second defeat in Wales in the space of five days ahead of their European Cup final date in Cardiff. Declan Kidney has now seen his team's Celtic League ambitions extinguished with two comprehensive defeats.
Last night's game at Stradey Park saw few of Munster's fringe players put forward a case for promotion. Kidney took no chances with his selection; hence there was no place for Paul O'Connell and Christian Cullen, who hurt ankles against the Ospreys on Friday. Ronan O'Gara, Trevor Halstead, Anthony Foley and John Hayes were also rested.
Munster led through a Jeremy Manning penalty but offered little resistance when the Scarlets pack rumbled half the length of the field to set up a scrum five yards from the line. Llanelli's strong pack shoved its way over at the third time of asking, Alix Popham touching down two minutes before half-time.
The interval brought an end to the involvement of Peter Stringer and Denis Leamy and saw the return of Alan Quinlan from a seven-month lay-off. But then Federico Pucciariello limped off, which will have worried Kidney.
Mike Mullins's introduction at half-time soon paid off when his burst led to a penalty that Manning converted for a 6-5 lead before Mick O'Driscoll infringed and handed Craig Evans a simple shot at goal.
Manning missed the chance to retake the lead after more good work from Mullins. Donncha O'Callaghan had barely taken the field when Llanelli's Aled Gravelle surged forward from behind a ruck. Mike Prendergast bought a dummy pass yet managed to recover to haul down the hooker yards from the line, but he could do little more as Popham drove over on 65 minutes.
Llanelli's Vernon Cooper was sinbinned for stamping on John O'Sullivan yet managed to complete the scoring with a penalty.
LLANELLI SCARLETS: L Byrne; Garan Evans, R King, Gavin Evans, T Selley; C Evans, C Stuart-Smith; I Thomas, M Rees, C Dunlea; V Cooper (capt), H Louw; I Afeaki, A Popham, D Jones. Replacements: D Peel for Smith (half-time), J Mills for Afeaki (52 mins), A Jones for Louw, A Gravelle for Rees (both 62 mins), J Davies for Dunlea (67 mins).
MUNSTER: D Hurley; A Horgan, T O'Leary, M Lawlor, I Dowling; J Manning, P Stringer; E McGovern, P Humphreys, F Pucciariello; T Hogan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, J O'Sullivan, S Keogh (capt). Replacements: M Mullins for O'Leary, M Prendergast for Stringer, A Quinlan for Leamy (all half-time), D Varley for Pucciariello (47 mins), D O'Callaghan for O'Driscoll (65 mins), P Burke for Manning (70 mins), T Ryan for McGovern (76 mins).
Referee: M Changleng (Scotland).
