Champions let grip on crown slip too easily

European Cup Quarter-finals/Llanelli 24 Munster 15:Munster's European crown didn't so much slip as it was forcibly removed by a fired-up, far better Scarlets in their frenzied Stradey Park furnace last night. All in all, Munster can have few complaints, although they'll have plenty of regrets.

Llanelli looked what they are: a fine side, with far more pace, precision and power in their backline, with the most glaring class divide being in midfield. Even so, Paul O'Connell's galvanising physicality and presence in the frontline was missed, as was Anthony Foley's leadership and, more than Munster could have feared, Shaun Payne's solidity at full back.

Thanks to the accuracy of their lineout, Munster had plenty of ball, and went from side to side in the middle third with Ronan O'Gara putting plenty of width on the ball as they sought to release Lifeimi Mafi into play or Christian Cullen into the line, but Mafi seemed to lack confidence and Munster's running game as a whole lacked conviction.

Yet though outrun and outmuscled for long stretches, Munster could have hung on more closely on the scoreboard but for turning down three potential three-pointers in the first-half and a couple more after the break.

Ultimately, Munster played a bit too much like Ireland, who they're not, and not enough like Munster.

It didn't help that Llanelli were also much more aggressive defensively, closing down the space quickly and stepping into their tackles, whereas Munster defended more softly, especially in the outside channels.

Munster's warm-up continued closer to the final dressing-room preparations for the kick-off and seemed more intense. The Fields fairly bellowed out in the seconds leading up to the kick-off - which was slightly delayed by curious concerns about confetti on the pitch.

Benefiting from a wayward first throw by Matthew Rees, Munster immediately went for a high-tempo, ball-in-hand approach off a quick tap inside his 10-metre line by Peter Stringer.

Just as quickly though, Llanelli went wide to their dangerman, Regan King, and the once-capped All Black handed off Trevor Halstead. Donncha O'Callaghan was penalised for grabbing Dwayne Peel, but Stephen Jones pushed the penalty wide.

But compensation came quickly off the restart. Again Llanelli went to that outside centre channel, with Gavin Thomas being propelled in a running maul deep into Munster territory. In truth, Dwayne Peel miscued his crosskick, but Dafydd James gathered easily and beat Denis Leamy on the outside and Cullen on the inside for his fourth try of this season's campaign, and overall his unequalled 28th.

Jones nailed the touchline conversion.

When Munster's lineout maul was pulled down, Ronan O'Gara opted for an angled shot at goal, which he missed.

Targeting Iain Dowling in the murky, floodlit air, the Scarlets, by contrast, were even upping the tempo further under a clear, still sky and on a neatly manicured pitch. Peel unhesitatingly turned down a three-pointer for a quick tap, but James couldn't hold on.

When O'Gara went to the corner and Munster's drive was brought down, referee Chris White penalised them, and again when Jerry Flannery caught Jones late.

Stringer and O'Gara expertly found the corners, but the Llanelli lineout held firm.

Furthermore, the in-form Iestyn Thomas and co were putting the squeeze on the Munster scrum.

With Munster's drift defence a little soft, Llanelli were also generating much more momentum in the collisions, and although Munster's lineouts were accurate, their precision wavered when they moved the ball wide in the face of a more aggressive defence; even David Wallace spilled a long, flat pass by O'Gara as King loomed up close and personal.

Making few inroads, Munster needed a score, but O'Gara's 40-metre penalty drifted off course at the last.

The sinking feeling became a little deeper when Munster were penalised at a scrum and full back Barry Davies stepped up to land a mammoth penalty from halfway via the crossbar.

Hanging on for half-time, Jerry Flannery (twice) and Cullen missed Matthew Rees in two separate forays down Munster's porous left flank, while Mick O'Driscoll missed Stephen Jones badly going the other way.

And when the Scarlets swung the play infield and recycled from under the posts, Gavin Thomas took on the responsibility to make a diagonal run for the line and stretch out for the try despite a great effort by John Kelly, albeit with a hint of a double movement.

Jones' conversion made it 17-0 at the break and, what's more, Munster couldn't have too many complaints.

On the resumption, Munster put together their best two scrums of the match, only to mess up their calls on two throws to the tail.

There was still far more pace on the ball, intensity and width to Llanelli's running game. Cullen appeared a little fortunate that White decreed he wasn't guilty of foul play when he checked Mark Jones after the winger's chip ahead, and Davies almost cut in.

Though O'Gara missed a penalty to touch, Munster finally generated some phases through Alan Quinlan and their big rumblers off a Cullen counter-attack. Typically excellent blindside defence by Simon Easterby prevented Leamy from getting any momentum off the base, but hard running and recycling off Flannery's rumble saw O'Gara kick a certain three-pointer into the corner.

He finally took a penalty from in front of posts, and when Inoke Afeaki was binned they went to the corner. A couple of big calls by White went against them, but with both sides engaging in a fluctuating series of thrusts, Mafi made the initial offload, followed on by Quinlan, for Leamy to put Cullen away and Dowling scored in the corner. O'Gara couldn't nail the touchline conversion, which left them 17-8 and two scores down with 10 minutes to go.

Now obliged to play catch-up, the 100mph stuff suited Llanelli and, countering off an attempted chip and catch by O'Gara when little else was on, offloads by Mark Jones and Scott MacLeod put Barry Davies over.

Stephen Jones drove in the final nail with the conversion.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: James try, S Jones con 7-0; 40: Davies pen 10-0; 40 (+4 mins): G Thomas try, S Jones con 17-0; (half-time 17-0); 64: O'Gara pen 17-3; 70: Dowling try 17-8; 80: B Davies try, S Jones con 24-8; 88: Ryan try, O'Gara con 24-15.

LLANELLI SCARLETS: B Davies; M Jones, R King, G Evans, D James; S Jones, D Peel; I Thomas, M Rees, D Manu, V Cooper, S MacLeod, S Easterby (capt), G Thomas, A Popham. Replacements: I Afeaki for Cooper (64 mins), D Jones for Popham (81 mins), J Davies for Manu (86 mins), M Watkins for King (89 mins). Sinbinned: Afeaki (66-76 mins).

MUNSTER: C Cullen; J Kelly, L Mafi, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara (capt), P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: B Murphy for Kelly (78 mins), T O'Leary for Dowling (80 mins), D Ryan for M O'Driscoll (82 mins), F Pucciariello for Horan (85 mins).

Referee: Chris White (England)