Scarlets find form at last

The Scarlets got their Heineken Cup campaign off to a winning start with an impressive 24-12 victory over Brive at Parc y Scarlets.

The Welsh region crossed for tries at the end of each half from wing Lee Williams and replacement prop Rhys Thomas.

Stephen Jones added 11 points with the boot, and there was also a long-range penalty for replacement full-back Rhys Priestland. Brive's points came from England fly-half Andy Goode's three penalties, and one for Luciano Orquera.

The Scarlets had lost all their four previous Magners League games and badly needed this morale-boosting win against a side making their first appearance in the tournament for 11 years.

The Scarlets went in at half-time with a well-deserved 11-9 interval lead courtesy of a well-worked try for Williams in the last minute of the opening stanza, the winger put over after incisive running from Stephen Jones and Sean Lamont.

Until then Brive held a 9-6 advantage with three penalties to two, Goode taking all three of his chances.

Stephen Jones only find the target with only two of his four attempts, but his second penalty took him past 2,500 points for the region.

Overlaps

The Scarlets should have been further ahead at the break. Twice they failed to exploit four-to-two overlaps, and then Jonathan Davies was stopped in his tracks by a crunching tackle from former Scarlet Alix Popham.

It proved a key moment for both sides as Popham was carried off with an elbow injury and Davies limped off three minutes later.

The second half followed a similar pattern.

The Scarlets dominated for large periods but could not shake off Brive until the final minutes.

Jones put his side further ahead with a 53rd-minute penalty, a score that was cancelled out with a long-range effort by Orquera - who had replaced Goode - two minutes later.

The hosts gained more breathing space with Priestland's penalty from inside his own half to lead 17-12 after 68 minutes.

The result of the game had looked certain when replacement flanker Richie Pugh picked up a loose ball 40 metres out, but the celebrations turned to frustration after the referee ruled out the score for an offside.

The Scarlets' winning score came from a missed Jones penalty after the ball ricocheted off a post and with the Brive defence in disarray, Thomas crashed over for the try two minutes from time.