A bad week for European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) almost ended on the lowest of notes when Llanelli's replacement full-back Darril Williams dived over in the corner with his arm raised aloft triumphantly having given his side the lead for the first time with two minutes to go.

The celebrations lasted less than a second, the time it took referee Ed Morrison to blow his whistle and rule that Williams had been unlawfuly assisted by blocking American Football style. Had Llanelli won, they would have announced shortly after the final whistle that they would not have played Bath in the quarter-finals on Saturday, preferring instead to meet the All Blacks, having been told by ERC to make a choice.

Morrison's vigilance, and his failure to play much stoppage time, spared ERC the embarrassment of having to give Bath a bye into the semi-finals or to reinstate Cardiff. Even though it took nearly four minutes to help the Llanelli wing Garan Evans from the field after he had broken his collar-bone, and even though there were a number of other injuries, Morrison added on only 107 seconds.

The Llanelli coach, Gareth Jenkins, will not be doing an Alex Ferguson and purchasing a stopwatch. "They had us pinned in the corner at the end. We were going nowhere," he said. "I was more upset at the disallowed try, not because the referee was wrong, but because I felt there was an element of crossing in Cardiff's first try."

Cardiff, for the fourth time in five weeks, built up a big lead only to let it slip. They were 21-3 ahead after 43 minutes and thinking of Bath when they conceded three tries in eight minutes and Llanelli got their counter-attacking game going.

Cardiff are monolithic: strong in the set-pieces, they employ their back row as a battering ram to break down midfield defences and use their half-backs to probe for openings with kicks. Efficient but programmed, only centre Leigh Davies offers the merest hint of individualism: even the scrum-half Robert Howley is now a model of conformity.