Llanelli Scarlets 34 Connacht 11:Connacht came crashing down to earth after their bright Celtic League start when they were carved open by a rampant Llanelli Scarlets at Stradey Park last night.

The Scarlets may have been stripped of seven players on World Cup duty, but coming after their loss to Munster last week they were pumped up to make amends, and they did so with ease, wrapping up the contest with four tries and a bonus point.

Nothing seemed to go Connacht's way. In addition to some sloppy first-up tackling, they conceded too many penalties, made too many unforced errors, and, despite creating a handful of chances, failed to break through the Scarlets' well organised defence until the 79th minute when John Fogarty claimed the visitors' only try.

A Regan King try helped the Scarlets to a 13-3 lead at the break and they added three more tries in the second half from Vernon Cooper, Morgan Stoddart and Jonathan Davies.

CONNACHT: P Durcan; O Treviranus, M Deane, A Wynne, D Yapp; T Donnelly, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin (capt), R Morris, M Swift, D Gannon, M McCarthy, J O'Connor, C Rigney. Replacements: R Loughney for Morris (22m), J Muldoon for Rigney, R Ofisa for O'Connor and K Matthews for Yapp (all 50m), J Fogarty for Flavin (52m), D Riordan for Durcan (56m) C O'Loughlin for McPhillips 68m.

LLANELLI SCARLETS: M Stoddart; G Evans, R King, G Evans, M Watkins; R Priestland, G Cattle; P John, J Hayter, B Broster, V Cooper, A Eustace, D Jones, J Bater (cpt), N Thomas. Replacements: D Manu for Broster and L Davies for Cattle (both 50m), J Edwards for Thomas and I Thomas for John (60m), K Owens for Hayter (72m), J Davies for Stoddart (78m). L Reed for Eustace (80m).

Referee: A MacPherson (SRU).