Slow start for Scarlets

Llanelli Scarlets have made a faltering start to their Heineken Cup campaign after going down 48-21 to Clermont Auvergne in their Pool Five contest.

But what a contest it was: pace, power and skill were to the fore throughout, with the Magners League side fully playing their part and certainly unlucky not to have picked up a losing bonus point.

As it stands, they lie bottom of their group, but on the evidence of some of their play, Scarlets fans should not be too despondent just yet.

Both sides played a high-risk game, but despite Llanelli offering the prospect of a Toulouse-style European comeback midway through the second period, a haul of seven tries was ample proof that Clermont were thoroughly deserving winners.

With World Cup-winning captain - and Clermont debutant - John Smit starting the game on the bench, the home side went ahead with a Brock James penalty after two minutes and then continued to press, coming close four minutes later when a Dwayne Peel clearance from well inside his own 22 was charged down.

Expansive

The Scarlets subsequently set their own tone for the afternoon by playing themselves out of trouble in expansive style, but it caught them out after 15 minutes - a telegraphed Stephen Jones pass being intercepted by Clermont skipper Aurelien Rougerie who then proceeded to touch down unopposed.

James converted but the Scarlets were right back in it moments later with a try made thanks to some superb work from Regan King, his brilliant break setting up Dafydd James to touch down in the right-hand corner - Jones kicking the extras.

A breathless end-to-end battle was brewing, with an Alix Popham break for the Scarlets soon followed by more of the same - plus kick - in the opposite direction from James; indeed, the latter's next contribution with the boot set up Clermont's second try, with Julien Malzieu beating both James and Morgan Stoddart to the ball.

James missed the conversion but it mattered little in the context of what followed: a sweeping overlap from left to right finished off by Rougerie. The fly-half was again found wanting with the extras, but the fact was that Clermont had opened up a 13-point advantage by the half-hour mark.

Pressure

Clermont comfortably absorbed a period of Llanelli pressure and, heading into added time at the end of the first half, they responded in kind: a drive almost - but not quite - taking Elvis Vermeulen over, before the Scarlets earned a turnover.

The visitors repeated the feat four minutes into stoppage time, with Malzieu coming within a hair's breadth of touching down his second under the posts. Faced with such an onslaught, Llanelli must have been relieved when the half-time whistle finally blew.

The Scarlets have, of course, overcome such deficits in the upper reaches of European rugby before but, with Stoddart denying Rougerie his hat-trick two minutes into the second half, the signs were ominous. Sure enough, the bonus-point score came when Julien Bonnaire ploughed over moments later.

James found his target to push the gap out to 20 points, but the Scarlets then launched their comeback bid, with captain Peel spotting a gap following a line-out around Clermont's 22 and sprinting over, with Jones kicking the extra two points.

Incredibly, Llanelli were right back in contention when, after Stoddart diffused a high kick and Matthew Watkins broke forward, King finished the move off in the left-hand corner. The sight of Jones' conversion grazing the post on its way over signalled that fortune might just be shifting in the visitors' favour.

But the hopes of visiting fans were dashed soon enough: the reduced six-point gap soon being eked out once more when a break from James set up Rougerie's hat-trick. As James converted superbly from the right-hand flank, Smit entered the fray - a sight hardly offering encouragement to the opposition.

Sure enough, with Llanelli's defence looking increasingly tired, James scampered through to score Clermont's sixth - the fly-half also converting before being substituted for Alex King shortly afterwards.

Another came after 76 minutes, when Clermont's pack - dominant all afternoon - pushed replacement Thomas Domingo over, with King converting.

The Scarlets' only motivation now was a bonus point - but, despite predictable late pressure, the fourth try was not forthcoming.