Scarlets lose at home to Munster in season opener

Scrum-half Gareth Davies is playing in his 18th season for Scarlets

United Rugby Championship

Scarlets: (0) 21

Tries: Murray, Mee, Plumtree Cons: Costelow 2, Hawkins

Munster (13) 34

Tries: Casey, Haley, Kelly, Ahern Cons: Hanrahan, Crowley 3 Pens: Hanrahan 2

Scarlets kicked off the new United Rugby Championship season with a disappointing 34-21 defeat at home by Munster.

Hundreds of fans had protested "save our Scarlets" prior to kick-off, but the 9,000 Llanelli crowd were silenced in a one-sided first half thanks to Craig Casey's try and the boot of the returning JJ Hanrahan.

Mike Haley and Blair Murray exchanged tries after the break, before Dan Kelly crossed on his Munster debut.

Ellis Mee's effort sparked hopes of a comeback but Munster wrapped up the bonus-point through Tom Ahern.

Taine Plumtree's late interception set up a frantic finale, but inaccuracies saw Scarlets leave the game empty handed.

Scarlets welcomed back Wales duo Jake Ball and Joe Hawkins to their starting XV, while Niall Scannell led Munster out on his 200th appearance.

Both defences held firm until Munster got the breakthrough on 10 minutes, Hanrahan justifying his decision to turn down a kickable penalty.

His pin-point kick gave the visitors a perfect platform to drive before Casey picked up and darted through a gap.

Munster could have doubled their lead only for Sam Costelow to come up with a crucial turnover, while Mee continued the defensive heroics by bundling danger man Thaakir Abrahams into touch.

Hanrahan kicked two penalties to extend Munster's lead, before Scarlets enjoyed a rare visit to Munster's 22.

Plumtree broke the line and Josh Macleod looked certain to score only to knock the ball on in the final metre.

It rallied Scarlets and they looked threatening with the driving lineout, but not even the dancing feet of an all-Wales international backline could not find a way through.

The hosts needed to find something in the second half but got off to the worst possible start as Munster took full advantage of a narrow defence and fed the ball out to Haley who had a walk-in on his wing.

Scarlets finally got some points 10 minutes later when Gareth Davies fed Costelow on the wrap-around with the fly-half showing a good turn off pace before offloading to Murray.

But as Scarlets toiled in attack, Munster looked effortless with Kelly carving up the midfield to dive under the posts.

Scarlets re-grouped on the hour, Davies put in a probing kick which caused a defensive fumble and Mee was quick to pounce to bring them back to within 14 points.

But any hopes of a comeback were sealed 10 minutes from time, with replacement Ahern driving over from close range to secure maximum points.

But there was to be one last twist after the athletic Plumtree took full advantage of a lapse in concentration and ran in an interception try to set up an entertaining finale, but with the rain coming in, Scarlets could not salvage a late losing bonus-point.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: "We played for the 80, we had a lot of endeavour in the performance, but they were more ruthless when they had opportunities.

"We didn't quite get into the flow of the game, we couldn't dominate the collisions and it was difficult to play off slower ball.

"On the whole there's no complaints, I thought they were better."

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan said: "Happy to get the result, I think there was enough there for us to be optimistic about.

"The work that we've put in during pre-season has been worthwhile and also there were some parts of our game that were really good today.

"That will put us in good stead as we move forward."

Line-ups

Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, Roberts, Hawkins, Mee; Costelow, G Davies; Hepburn, H Thomas, H Thomas, Ball, Douglas, T Davies, Macleod (capt), Plumtree.

Replacements: Myhill, S O'Connor, H O'Connor, Davis, Taylor, Blacker, Williams, Page

Munster: Haley: Daly, Kelly, Nankivell, Abrahams; Hanrahan, Casey (C); Loughman, Scannell, Jager; Kleyn, Wycherley; O'Donoghue, Kendellen, Gleeson.

Replacements: Barron, Wycherley, Bartley, Ahern, Coombes, Patterson, Crowley, O'Brien.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Assistants: Craig Evans (Wales), Marcus Caudle (Wales)

TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)