Individual errors scupper Munster

Celtic League/ Llanelli 32 Munster 17:Munster's Irish internationals may have reported back for duty this morning with a clean bill of health but the same can hardly be said for Alan Gaffney's side.

National coach Eddie O'Sullivan breathed a sigh of relief as his star players emerged unscathed from a Saturday's physically intense contest, Ronan O'Gara making his eagerly-awaited return to action after missing a month with a broken hand.

The only concern was over Alan Quinlan, who broke his nose in the process of scoring Munster's second try, though it is not expected to prevent him from travelling to Rome.

"Ronan had no complaints at all about his hand afterwards, which is good news for everyone after such a physical and intense game," said Gaffney. "Alan broke his nose but he should be fine for the start of the Six Nations."

But while the coach was happy to pass on the good news for the national cause, he was far from content with his side's performance as a near-full strength team slumped to their worst defeat of the season against a Scarlets side in the doldrums.

Three times Munster took the lead at Stradey Park, yet within seconds of each score they simply handed back the lead to their hosts.

Tries from Peter Stringer and Quinlan in either half should have established the platform from which Munster could build but basic mistakes from the re-start undermined their efforts and allowed Llanelli to escape every time.

The home side capitalised on Munster's generosity to take the maximum points on offer with four tries and hand neighbours Neath-Swansea Ospreys a major boost in the race for the Celtic League title.

"We're very disappointed to have conceded so many tries especially because they all came from our mistakes. One was a missed tackle, two were because we failed to secure the restart and the fourth was an interception," Gaffney added.

"Overall we actually played some good rugby and probably made more clean line breaks than we have in any other game for a while. We created far more opportunities than Llanelli. However, the difference was we did not make the most of those chances while, in fairness, Llanelli did.

"You certainly wouldn't have thought that from the scoreline but unfortunately our collective efforts as a team were undone by individual errors."

Pushed on the subject, he snapped: "These are mistakes that individuals make so you will have to ask them why they make them. We do enough skills work in training."

Certainly the errors leading to Llanelli's tries were uncharacteristic for the culprits. Jerry Flannery missed a one-on-one tackle that allowed John Davies a break that saw Matthew Watkins squeeze over in the corner after Stringer had earlier dived over from close range.

O'Gara, out of sorts for much of the game, at least regained the lead with a penalty only for Donncha O'Callaghan to spill the re-start. Llanelli reacted swiftly and Gavin Thomas burst through to send Andy Powell over just before half-time.

Just six minutes into the second half Quinlan latched onto Jason Holland's inside pass to score only to leave the field immediately afterwards. Replacement David Wallace had only just taken up his position when Anthony Foley took his eye off the ball allowing wing Aisea Havili to scurry in and nip around the stunned Munster defence. Advantage Llanelli once again.

With the game still there to be won, Munster pressed but were caught trying to force the issue. O'Gara's looping pass was plucked out of the sky by 6ft 5in Chris Wyatt who stretched his legs to out-run Christian Cullen to the line. Game, set and match Llanelli.

LLANELLI: G Evans; A Havili, M Watkins, S Finau, T Selley; G Bowen, M Phillips; P John, R McBryde, J Davies, V Cooper, C Wyatt, S Easterby , A Powell, G Thomas. Replacement: J Mills for Easterby (70 mins)

MUNSTER: C Cullen; P Devlin, S Payne, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley (capt), D Leamy. Replacements: D Wallace for Quinlan (48 mins), M Mullins for Payne (52 mins), M Lawlor for Mullins (76 mins)

Referee: A Ireland (Scotland)