Llanelli are made to pay heavy price for Jones' indiscipline

Llanelli are close to unbeatable at Stradey Park, as the mighty Leicester discovered to their acute discomfort last season, but not even the great All Black-beating side of Delme Thomas and Phil Bennett went around conceding first-minute penalty tries and suffering ninth-minute sendings-off in an effort to make life interesting. The Scarlets paid through the nose for their poor discipline last night, losing a Heineken Cup quarter-final they were heavily favoured to win.

It might have been possible for the Scarlets to have made a worse start, but only just. Perpignan, hot stuff down Catalonia way but no great travellers, put themselves on the board within 60 seconds of the kick-off when Jean-Marc Souverbie, their excellent full-back, cut a beautiful line on the shoulder of Pascal Bomati, chipped ahead and was promptly obstructed by Simon Easterby. The penalty-try sanction was duly imposed, and Manny Edmonds pinged over the conversion with barely a glance at the sticks.

For all that, the real damage was caused a few minutes later and was entirely self-inflicted. Dafydd Jones, a flanker with a temper if his record is anything to go by, had already been involved in a bout of pushing and shoving with half the Perpignan pack – no angels themselves, if truth be told – and when he stamped on the head of Ludovic Loustau, the visiting scrum-half, as players from both sides piled over the top of a ruck, there was little in the way of evidence for the defence. Tony Spreadbury, the international referee from Somerset, took all of five seconds to reach for the red card.

Suddenly, the Llanelli scrum was in all sorts of strife. As their line-out was even more badly compromised, thanks to some spectacularly cock-eyed throwing from Robbie McBryde, there was so much writing on the wall that it might have been penned by Proust himself. Stephen Jones cut the deficit with a couple of penalties, and even managed to manufacture a try for the bullocking Martyn Madden after slicing up a scratchy Perpignan midfield with a rare burst of acceleration. But the Frenchmen had only to stay cool and play the percentages to advance to the last four.

This they did, just about. When Phil Murphy, their Canadian No 8, scored direct from a five-metre scrum after Renaud Peillard had been held up over the line by the hard-working Easterby, the visitors were guaranteed an interval advantage. They should have extended that lead at the beginning of the second half when Bernard Goutta, a real handful in the loose, and Nicolas Mas powered to within a couple of metres of the Llanelli line. But the Scarlets defended as stoutly as their reduced numbers permitted, and Perpignan needed two drop goals from Edmonds to nail the victory.

The first of these was a remarkable effort, bordering on the staggering. Strong driving from Murphy and Jerome Thion put Llanelli on the back foot once again as the clock ticked past the hour, but the delivery of the ball was so slow and ragged that Edmonds did not expect to receive it at all. In serious danger of being swamped by a mass of Carmarthenshire muscle, the former Wallaby somehow hit the spot from the best part of 50 metres.

Hope springs eternal in these parts, though, and when Thion was sent to the sin-bin for some insensitive rucking deep in the final quarter, Llanelli were able to crank up the heat. But Edmonds' second drop and some iron tackling in the last five minutes saw the Frenchmen home.

Llanelli: Try Madden; Conversion S Jones; Penalties S Jones 4. Perpignan: Tries Penalty try, Murphy; Conversions Edmonds 2; Penalties Edmonds 2; Drop goals Edmonds 2.

Llanelli: B Davies; G Evans, M Watkins, L Davies (capt), S Finau; S Jones, D Peel (G Easterby, 66); I Thomas, R McBryde, M Madden, V Cooper, C Wyatt, D Jones, S Easterby, S Quinnell.

Perpignan: J-M Souverbie; P Bomati, P Giordani, C Manas, F Cermeno; M Edmonds, L Loustau; R Peillard, M Konieckiewicz (M Dal Maso, 65), N Mas, J Thion, R Alvarez Kairelis, G Le Corvec, B Goutta (capt, L Mallier, 76), P Murphy (C Porcu, 65).

Referee: A Spreadbury (England).