EDINBURGH slipped from title-chasers to the mid-table pack with this toothless defeat, while the full back shoot-out between Hugo Southwell and Chris Paterson drew a blank as well.
The Scots did well to stay in touch in the first period, but the second half was a desperate and sterile affair with the only points of the whole 40 minutes coming from the very last kick of the game.
It meant Edinburgh did get a losing bonus poi
nt out of a match in which they barely threatened and certainly would have been fortunate to snatch a win.
That point moved them back into the top half of the table, above Ulster into fifth, but with the Scarlets strengthening their hold on fourth place it could be seen as a missed opportunity despite the star names missing.
"The worst part of that for both sides is that it was such a dreadful game," admitted a frustrated Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson. "Llanelli had a good start and we tried a few things in the first five minutes, but after that it was just a case of poor skills and guys not being able to hang onto the ball under pressure.
"It was very disappointing really, but the Scarlets deserved their victory because they scored two cracking tries early on. We are all frustrated with what's happened there. We need to hang into games and then go on to win them, but you have got to hold onto the ball and take your chances to be able to do that.
"It was summed up when we had a scrum on their 22 in the middle of the pitch, but gave away a free kick from such a prime attacking position."
In the full-back face-to-face between Southwell and Paterson, Southwell did not do himself many favours playing with the help of the wind in the first half.
On several occasions he and others kicked too long over the try line, while he also found himself well policed by the Scarlets defence.
Paterson looked more inventive in the second half, but also got little change from the Scarlets defence – while, unusually for him, he missed his only penalty kick at goal.
The Scarlets stamped their authority on the opening exchanges, keeping ball in hand playing into the wind, but Edinburgh managed to keep the scoreline closer than the run of play had suggested.
The Llanelli attack runners were willing and able to take advantage of some open space out wide which Edinburgh seemed incapable of creating. In particular full back Morgan Stoddart and centre Jonathan Davies had the ability to make plenty of ground and they made a try each for the home side.
Stoddart drifted outside the defence and then cut back inside before giving the scoring pass to left wing Daniel Evans.
Then Davies created the territorial advantage, captain Simon Easterby kept the pressure up with a quickly taken tap penalty and hooker Ken Owens was able to burrow over from a few inches out.
But Rhys Priestland missed both conversions, and a very kickable penalty, and Edinburgh were given hope that they could claw their way back into the game despite being outplayed for long periods.
When Scarlets lock Vernon Cooper somewhat predictably decided to mete out some hard rucking to former second row colleague Scott MacLeod, he was given a stern warning and David Blair stepped up to slot the resulting penalty.
Then on the stroke of half-time Blair added another to close the gap to four points at the interval, this time capitalising on an offside decision.
In the second half there were a series of missed penalties, three by the Scarlets and one by Paterson after coming on. Daniel Evans took over kicking duties for the home side and was finally successful with the last kick of the game, a penalty from under the posts.
Apart from that, the second half had little to recommend it. As soon as Edinburgh did earn a decent field position to apply pressure, they made a mistake to release it.
Paterson did look to spark things for the visitors after his pre-planned arrival for the second half, while Simon Webster was the most dangerous of the Edinburgh runners on his return from the head injury suffered against Wales.
It was a difficult afternoon in terms of the conditions, cold wind and wet with it, but Robinson refused to blame those factors for the lack of basic skills, pointing the finger at his players instead.
Marc Teague came in as a replacement wing to finally complete his fairytale transformation from club journeyman to professional rugby player. Also lock MacLeod lasted a little over an hour against his former team.
Apart from that there was little to take from a game which saw Edinburgh slip back among the Magners League middle section.
Scorers: Scarlets: Tries: D Evans, Owens. Pen : D Evans. Edinburgh: Pens: D Blair (2).
Scarlets: M Stoddart; D Daniel, J Davies, G Evans, D Evans; R Priestland, M Roberts; P John, K Owens, D Manu, V Cooper, L Reed, J Turnbull, S Easterby (capt), D Lyons. Replacements: I Thomas for John (53), M Schwalger for Owen (61), D Day for Reed (54), R McCusker for Turnbull (68), N Thomas, G Cattle for Roberts (41), G Morris for Stoddart (80).
Edinburgh: H Southwell; S Webster, B Cairns, N De Luca, M Robertson; D Blair, G Laidlaw; K Traynor, A Kelly, R Grant, S MacLeod, B Gissing, S Cross, A MacDonald, A Hogg (capt). Replacements: S Lawrie for Kelly (75), B McNeil, C Hamilton for Gissing (21-29) and MacLeod (64), S Newlands for S Cross (40), B Meyer, M Teague for Robertson (61), C Paterson for Southwell (40).
Referee: Alain Rolland. Attendance.: 6,302
The full article contains 983 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
