Patched-up Connacht men swept aside by play-off chasing Scarlets

Scarlets 38Connacht 10

Rob Murphy at Parc y Scarlets

ERIC Elwood's reaction to Friday's five try defeat at the hands of a youthful and supremely talented Scarlets side told a tale.

Disappointed yes but realistic and accepting of the reality that with seven changes, five enforced, Connacht were fighting the odds from the outset.

Brett Wilkinson travelled to Paris with the Irish squad as cover over the weekend while Mike McCarthy had a week of hard training with Declan Kidney's chargers and wasn't considered for selection. Then there was John Muldoon who was carrying a knock and held in reserve – Niall O'Connor and Kyle Tonetti were ruled out completely. 

All that is not to dismiss the result. Connacht were well and truly outclassed in this one, conceding a four try bonus in the league for the first time and rarely looking like threatening the home side who, from a very early stage, showed their confidence by shunning kickable penalties and going for tries.

Llanelli are play off chasing. They are missing one or two key components to international duty but with Stephen Jones available at ten, they had the required experience to get them over that hurdle.

The six time Lion and 104 time Welsh international was the game's most influential figure, guiding his young side throughout.

Connacht's game plan was to go wide early and try and establish a foothold in the contest. It was a tactic based realisation that halting the early momentum of the home side would be crucial if the odds were to be upset.

To that end, the visitors almost achieved their goal in the first five minutes. A sweeping backline move from a lineout saw the ball come into the hands of Gavin Duffy, who drew the cover before releasing Tiernan O'Halloran. The winger had a 20 metre race to the corner and almost got there – Liam Williams' last ditch tackle came just in the nick of time for the home side.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.