Jonathan Davies: Llanelli must bare their soul in crisis of identity

Llanelli are facing the nightmare scenario that they can win the Heineken Cup this season and then get swallowed up in one of Welsh rugby's proposed four provincial teams. Could it really happen? Well, they can win the Cup but whether the authorities would then have the right, or the guts, to smother the identity of one of the world's best clubs is something to ponder.

Even if they don't win the trophy they've already done enough to provide a serious dilemma for those planning the reorganisation. To watch them beat a very good Bourgoin side 37-22 at Stradey Park on Friday night was to witness not only an excellent team but to sense a club putting its soul on show.

If ever a club are fighting fiercely for their lives, it's the Scarlets. They were my boyhood heroes and I eventually fulfilled my ambition to play for them so I can't claim to be unbiased.

I also played for Neath and Cardiff and I'd hate to see them lose their place at the top level but, then, every club involved in the shake-up have a proud history they want to protect. None of them are going to disappear because they will all live on in the new semi-professional First Division where the old rivalries can be maintained.

But if anyone has earned the right to stand alone at the forefront of the game it is Llanelli. Over the past few seasons they have been consistently the best Welsh team and with any luck at all would already have won the Heineken Cup. There's a strong case for them to be regarded as a provincial side.

They are a Welsh-speaking club who draw support from a larger geographical area of Wales than any of the other teams. I'd love to see them live on. Whether they should do so at the expense of the Welsh game's general progress is an argument that is bound to rumble on.

Newport and Ebbw Vale have agreed on an amalgamation in the east, Neath and Bridgend seem content to merge, Cardiff and Pontypridd are still deliberating while Swansea would be Llanelli's natural partners despite their age-old enmity.

Not many Swansea players would find a place in the Llanelli line-up at the moment but in their fight to stay solo all the Scarlets can do is to keep winning and their match in Glasgow on Friday night is vital. If they get a good win there they will top the group and have a realistic chance of playing at home in the quarter-finals.

Home advantage is crucial at that stage and they need fear no one when they play at Stradey. Despite the strength of the other teams left in the tournament, if Llanelli progress to the semi-finals, which are played on neutral venues, they have a chance.

Where they are stronger now in comparison to their near misses in the last couple of seasons is that they've learnt that you can't win if you are one-dimensional. They would play very well but weren't able to take full advantage of their try-scoring opportunities.

They were able to fall back on the penalty-kicking abilities of Stephen Jones but that meant that they weren't able to build big leads and were famously vulnerable to last-minute kicks and defeats by one or two points.

Now they have a much better balance in the backs with Barry Davies at full-back, Garan Evans and Mark Jones on the wings and Matthew Watkins complementing Leigh Davies in the centre. The sheer pace of Watkins, Evans and the scrum-half Dwayne Peel gave them the cutting edge to help them make the most of the chances that came their way on Friday. Even Scott Quinnell produced a scorching 40-yard run to score and display the sort of clinical finishing you must have at this level.

Statistically, Bourgoin had more of the ball and the territory and in Alexandre Peclier had a wonderfully creative outside-half but although he helped them to two late tries the French team eventually had to concede to Llanelli.

Llanelli will not take any sense of security to Glasgow with them. To quote Garan Evans, their record up there is "abysmal" but you feel that Llanelli are backed by the best motivation there can be – their quest to prove that their distinct identity should be allowed to play a full part in the future of Welsh rugby.