Now, a historic first Heineken Cup semi-final appearence beckons.
For that to happen the Scalets will have to go on their travels and win again.
Jones said; “All credit to the forwards they were magnificent. I am absolutely
delighted that we are through to the last eight – now it’s just a case of
waiting to see who we will play.
“It was a tough ask for us, but the boys came up with the goods and the
crowd were right behind us from start to finish.”
Man of the match Quinnell paid tribute to his players when he said,
“We put our bodies on the line and deserved to win this game. we came
close in Leicester and though we were not really looking for revenge, it
was great to beat a side of Leicester’s quality.”
Despite having already clinched qualification, Leicester arrived at Stradey Park fired up, and immediately set about unsettling a nervous Llanelli pack.
The Scarlets hardly helped themselves, making early mistakes,and giving away silly penalties.
Goode’s boot opened up a six point gap but Jones settled Welsh nerves when he bagged his first penalty on 18 minutes and the Scarlets gradually showed their mettle with Quinnell leading from the
front.
The two kickers swapped penalties twice more leaving the Tigers 12-9 to the good , but Jones was soon back on the mark and in the five minutes leading up to half time, the Welsh fly half made it 15-12 to the hosts.
Llanelli started the second half strongly, their defensive qualities preventing Leicester from gaining the upper hand.
Leicester’s Steve Booth was penalised for treading on Martyn Madden – giving Jones the oppurtunity to increase Llanelli’s lead to 18-12.
It was thrilling stuff with Leicester becoming increasingly desperate to break down Llanelli’s rearguard action.
Llanelli who were proving the more efficient of the two sides with Quinnell and Martyn Madden to the fore.
It was another stunning performance from Madden and it beggars belief why he has yet to taste international rugby at the highest level.
He was into everything – both in attack and defence where his Scarlet
teammates were simply outstanding.
When Jones added his magnificent seventh penalty, it was all but curtains for the Tigers.
The visitors simply had no answer to the Scalet machine. As hard as the Tigers tried they were unable to get the platform on which to build a sixth successive victory in the
pool.
Jones’ eighth kick was the icing on the cake and that was that. It was a thoroughly deserved victory, making the Scarlets the only Welsh side in the final eight.
Llanelli:24
Penalties: S Jones (8)
Leicester Tigers:12
Penalties – A Goode (4)
