On form Scarlets storm into final eight

Alix Popham, Regan King, Morgan Stoddard, Dwayne Peel and Gavin Thomas all went over as the Scarlets gave their hosts a devastating lesson in wet-weather rugby to overturn a half-time deficit. Stephen Jones converted all five tries to overtake Diego Dominguez as the second highest points scorer in the history of the Heineken Cup, behind Munster’s Ronan O’Gara.

With qualification complete, Director of Rugby Phil Davies was left eyeing home advantage in the quarter-finals. For the second game in a row, the Scarlets were forced to come from behind but just like at Toulouse, they did so in emphatic style.

Tommy Bowe went over on fifteen minutes from Kieran Campbell’s well-judged kick after Paddy Wallace had banged over a penalty inside two minutes. The Scarlets’ defence stood firm, despite the loss of Popham for ten minutes following a high tackle on Wallace, who staggered off before half-time.

Popham roared back onto the field to score his team’s first response, stepping out of the sin bin and over for a try four minutes before the break. Paul Steinmetz guided a penalty between the posts on the stroke of half-time but Ulster’s 11-7 lead always looked frail and they turned to face the mighty wind for the second half.

Ulster battered the Scarlets line but lacked a clinical edge and they were made to pay a heavy price. With the wind at their backs, the away side could finally clear their lines and the tries duly came.

King glided over on fifty-eight minutes following Gavin Evans’s intitial break to give the Scarlets the lead for the first time, but more tries were soon to follow.

Stephen Jones missed a conversion but Morgan Stoddard capped his first start at regional level with an impressive try moments later before Peel went over in the corner following a scintillating break by Matthew Watkins for the bonus point. Thomas wrapped up a remarkable afternoon’s work for the now highly-fancied Welsh region who look set for home advantage in the quarter-finals.