Five match points for the Scarlets

Welsh record a good win over Glasgow

Llanelli Scarlets beat Glasgow 38-22 at Stradey Park at lunchtime on Sunday and gobbled up a bonus point in the process and kept their Heineken Cup challenge in Pool Three alive. But there was a stage when an upset looked possible.

The second half had barely started. For the fourth time Glasgow messed up their own throw and the Scarlets looked like scoring - but Glasgow did!

Gareth Bowen broke and raced downfield he had support but went on his own but Beveridge tackled him short of the line. Back the ball came to the Scarlets who spun it wide to the right with a long pass to Dave Hodges. Kenny Logan anticipated the pass and raced in onto Hodges and the two players collided - body to body, head to head. Hodges lost the ball which Sean Lamont picked up. The burly wing galloped 90 metres to score at the posts, and Glasgow led 15-12.

The match was held up for a long time as Hodges and Logan were taken off and in the same ambulance to hospital.

After that the Scarlets took over as their forwards simply blew Glasgow away.

Tal Selley, the Scarlets' wing, was both hero and villain in the first half. He scored a magnificent, thrilling, sweeping try - and then was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on. He was the second Scarlet sin-binned as earlier Gareth Bowen was shown a yellow card for tackling Gareth MacLure when he did not have the ball as Glasgow headed towards the Scarlets' goal-line.

Penalties had nearly cost the Scarlets the match the previous Sunday when they were penalised 14 times to the twice of Glasgow. This half started as if all that was set to change as the first three penalties went the Scarlets' way but then the next seven went to Glasgow and there were two Scarlet yellow cards.

It was a half that should have belonged entirely to the Scarlets who did end leading 12-8 but it could have been so much more than that.

If penalties were Scarlets' problem, line-outs were the Glasgow nemesis. The Scarlets got their penalty count down in the second half and actually won the count in the half - 6-1. But the Glasgow problem persisted. They threw into 15 line-outs. They lost five and threw in skew once. Line-outs and their control of possession destroyed the Scots.

Dwayne Peel was the first to spark the game. He broke at the first tackle and then Aisea Havili had a string run down the left-wing - and it was important to see which Scarlet was on which wing as they swapped regularly.

Peel sparked the next try when he took a tap and raced away. The Scarlets went right twice and then went left to send Havili surging in for the try. 5-0.

Anything Peel could do, Graeme Beveridge could match it seemed. He broke with a dummy from a scrum and there was Kenny Logan racing down the field from fullback. Enter Bowen's indiscretion.

Glasgow countered off a poor clearance by Matthew Watkins, Logan did clever things and MacLure net charging down the left wing, thumping Havili off with a hand-off. 5-5.

Glasgow could have had another when they tapped a free kick at a line-out but a poor pass by Donnie MacFadyen eliminated a double overlap. Glasgow continued to attack - and Llanelli scored!

Hooker Matthew Rees intercepted a wayward pass and the Scarlets raced off to the left where Selley broke and ran 62 metres to score under the bar. 12-5.

The only other score of the half was a penalty by Calvin Howarth when Chris Wyatt was off-side at a line-out.

After Lamont's try, the Llanelli took over and the Glasgow pack became increasingly rickety.

Euan Murray was penalised for being off-side and Bowen goaled. He goaled a simple one again when Chris Wyatt, who had a massive game, was dispossessed by a team-mate when about to score. 18-15. Glasgow kicked out on the full and were penalised at the scrum. Bowen goaled from 50 metres. 21-15. Glasgow were out of it.

The Scarlets peeled off a line-out on the right and bashed and bashed before releasing the ball to their left where Bowen flung a marvellous skip pass for Havili to score his second. 26-15.

They got the next when they mauled a five-metre line-out and Vernon Cooper was the man left with the ball. 31-15.

They went through phase after phase after eschewing a penalty in front of goal and eventually Selley burst over for his second, which Bowen converted.

In injury time, Graeme Morrison broke for Glasgow down the tight. The ball went left where re; placement hooker Scott Lawson caught a hard ball and cut through to score at the posts.

The scorers:

For Llanelli Scarlets:
Tries: Havili 2, Selley 2, Cooper
Cons: Watkins, Bowen
Pens: Bowen 3

For Glasgow:
Tries: MacLure, Lamont, Lawson
Cons: Howarth 2
Pen: Howarth