Munster 26 Llanelli Scarlets 16:Paul Warwick turned in a man-of-the-match performance on his competitive debut for Munster when leading his side to victory over Llanelli Scarlets at Musgrave Park on Saturday night.

Warwick finished the game with a try, two conversions and four penalties - Anthony Horgan got Munster's other try - but it was his ability to get his line moving and his willingness to take the ball on himself that truly impressed and also drew praise from his coach, Declan Kidney.

"If you have the ball you want to control it and play it at your pace but you'd never knock enthusiasm for it, so if the boys feel that it's good to tap and go then I won't stop them; they're the ones that make the decisions on the pitch," said Kidney.

"We've been caught a few times by those quick tap-and-go moves and when it works for us I'm not complaining," he smiled.

Kidney was delighted with the way Warwick and centre Rua Tipoki, also making his competitive debut, linked up.

"That was Paul and Rua's first time playing at 10 and 12 together and they gelled well. This is all about a squad. This team is never about any one person and that's the way we'll keep it and they've certainly slotted into that . . . and hopefully they'll go on to enjoy a lot more games."

Llanelli's director of rugby, Phil Davis, was feeling nothing but frustration at his side's second loss in their third league game.

"Particularly disappointed, to be honest," said Davis. "Obviously both teams were understrength and we played well in patches, but for far too many of the other periods in the game we were far too sloppy."

MUNSTER: S Payne; I Dowling, K Lewis, R Tipoki, A Horgan; P Warwick, T O'Leary; F Pucciariello, D Fogarty, T Buckley; M Melbourne, M O'Driscoll; B Holland, N Ronan, A Foley. Replacements: S Cronin for Fogarty, D Hurley for Pucciarlello, L Mafi for Lewis, J Coughlan for Holland, T O'Donnell for Ronan. G Hurley for O'Leary

LLANELLI SCARLETS: M Stoddart; G Evans, R King, G Evans, M Watkins; R Priestland, G Cattle; L Thomas, J Hayter, B Douglas; V Cooper, A Eustace; D Jones, J Bater, N Thomas. Replacements: B Broster, J Davis, J Edwards for Douglas, Cooper, Jones, K Owens for Hayter.

Referee: P Allen (SRU).