Pool Five: Clermont Auvergne 48 Llanelli 21:Clermont lived up to their star-studded potential with a clinical demolition of the Scarlets at their Parc des Sports Marcel-Michelin fortress yesterday.
Sharing the "Pool of Death" with former champions Munster and current Heineken European Cup holders London Wasps, Clermont displayed their credentials by running in seven tries with an entertaining mix of power and pace.
Any team who can afford to leave World Cup-winning hooker John Smit on the bench are always going to be a handful, and so it proved.
The Scarlets contributed to an excellent game of rugby, but conceding three tries inside the first half hour gave them too high a mountain to climb, despite scoring 14 points in a thrilling three-minute spell midway through the second half.
A minute's applause in memory of Wales legend Ray Gravell was held before kick-off, and it had barely died down when home scrumhalf Brock James banged over the first points from the halfway line.
The boots of James and the Scarlets' former Clermont scrumhalf Stephen Jones dominated the opening exchanges, and Jones should have stuck to kicking. His long, loopy pass in the 15th minute was snatched out the air by Clermont skipper Aurelien Rougerie, who cantered in for a try from halfway.
The Scarlets hit back when Kiwi centre Regan King's silky break gave Dafydd James the space to score a record 29th European Cup try, and Jones' sideline conversion partially made up for his previous contribution to the scoreline. James had plenty of pace but could not turn fast enough as opposite number Julien Malzieu shouldered past him and won the race for the ball to score Clermont's second try.
From the restart, Malzieu broke clear and Rougerie powered over for his second try - awarded by the television official despite what looked like a blatant double movement.
Clermont went into the break with a 20-7 lead, and it took only three minutes of the second spell for backrower Julien Bonnaire to secure a try bonus point. With the game slipping away at a great rate of knots, Wales and Scarlets scrumhalf Dwayne Peel took matters into his own hands, darting from a scrum and sprinting 25 yards for a try which silenced the home fans.
King finished off a Morgan Stoddart-inspired break to reduce the deficit to six points, but Clermont hit straight back as Rougerie completed his hat-trick, and Smit received a huge reception as he ran on for his debut game at the club.
James scored through some tired defence to end the Scarlets' comeback, and replacement prop Thomas Domingo powered over for try number seven.
After the game, Clermont Auvergne captain Rougerie claimed his club had made a loud European Cup statement. Rougerie said: "I have to take my hat off to the whole team. We had a great time out there and it's a fantastic start to our European campaign.
"We definitely weren't perfect, and we've got lots to look at and work on for next week. It certainly wasn't an easy game, and it could easily have turned in Llanelli's favour.
"But I think we've come out tonight and we've said: 'We're here and we're right in this pool."'
Smit, added that Wasps and Munster would underestimate the French club at their peril. He said: "I was taken by surprise by the speed of the game. We had good offloads, good skills . . . these guys are hungry to win this thing and we've made a great start. This is one of the most professional outfits I've ever been involved with."
Scarlets coach Phil Davies said: "We let them get away in the beginning of the second half. We gave ourselves some real momentum towards the end, but it was too late to change the result. We're obviously disappointed not to have a bonus point, particularly in a pool this tough.
"We always feel we can win a game, but we made a lot of mistakes that we don't usually make. We'll need to look at our set-piece for next weekend - we lost four or five lineout balls.
CLERMONT AUVERGNE: Floch; Rougerie, Canale, Garcia, Malzieu; James, Mignoni; Emmanuelli, Ledesma, Scelzo; L Jacquet, Privat; Bonnaire, Audebert, Vermeulen. Replacements: Domingo for Emmanuelli (22), Smit for Ledesma (59), King for James (67), Esterhuizen for Canale (70), Samson for Privat (75). Not used: Etien, Pic.
LLANELLI SCARLETS: Stoddart; James, King, G Evans, Watkins; S Jones, Peel; I Thomas, Rees, Manu; Cooper, MacLeod; Bater, G Thomas, Popham. Replacements: G Evans for James (51), Hayter for Rees, Eustace for Cooper (both 64). Not used: Douglas, D Jones, Cattle, Priestlend.
Referee: Chris White(RFU).
