Scarlets 45, Connacht 3

Connacht's hopes of leaving Stradey Park with a memorable result were blown away by a rampant Scarlets side who ran in seven unanswered tries.

It was an awesome display by Simon Easterby and his men but Connacht did not help their cause with some poor tackling and misplaced kicking.

HOPEFUL . . . Connacht's Ray Ofisa, seen here in action against the Ospreys, who is hoping to recover from a shoulder injury ahead of his side's crucial clash against Glasgow on Friday evening at the Sportsground. Photo: Alan Gallagher.

The Scarlets will move to a new £23 million stadium next month and they will bring into a side that oozes class. Connacht just had no answer as the Scarlets owned the ball almost from start to finish. Connacht just could not get their hands on the ball for any sustained period and the possession they gleaned was sporadic and hurried.

They will now need to pick up the pieces for the visit of Glasgow next Friday after leaving a venue for the final time where they remained unbeaten in their first three visits.

Ironically, Connacht got a perfect start when Ian Keatley slotted a penalty from the left-wing on the 22 after less than a minute after Scarlets were penalised for being off their feet.

But Scarlets took over from there and would have led by much more than 12-3 were it not for a combination of poor decision-making and some excellent defending.

Centre Nathan Brew was particularly guilty of ignoring glaring overlaps but prop Deacon Manu wrapped up anything which came his way.

The 29-year old had managed just two tries in 31 appearances but he doubled that total in the space of six minutes.

He struck for his first after 17 minutes after the Scarlets wore down a stretched Connacht defence. And then when the Scarlets turned over a promising Connacht attack, Manu was the one who finished after Jones had kicked a penalty in front of the posts to touch.

Jones added the conversion and Connacht, who lost lock Michael Swift and out-half Keatley to injury during the opening half, were further penalised when centre Keith Matthews was harshly sin-binned after 31 minutes.

The Scarlets were unable to use the extra man and it was Connacht who finished the half the stronger but Troy Nathan was short with a penalty effort from 40 metres.