Scarlets fell to a disappointing 24-15 defeat to Cardiff in their opening home game of the BKT United Rugby Championship season.
In front of a vocal crowd at Parc y Scarlets, the Scarlets flew out of the blocks, but a series of unforced errors and turnovers allowed the visitors to claw their way back into the contest and eventually run out bonus-point winners.
A try after just 14 seconds by Macs Page on his home debut put the Scarlets in dreamland and a second for Taine Plumtree cemented Scarlets’ early dominance.
But that was as good as it got for Dwayne Peel’s side, who were reduced to 13 men in the second half.
In a breathtaking opening, supporters barely had time to take their seat and the Scarlets were celebrating the game’s opening try.
Cardiff switched the kick-off, Tom Rogers gathered, raced up field and his attempted kick through ricocheted into the hands of Page who sped to the line unopposed. Costelow converted.
The Scarlets momentum continued with Costelow adding a penalty on three minutes to take the lead up to 10-0.
It got better with a second try on 10 minutes.
A powerful charge by the impressive Alex Craig took play into the Cardiff 22 and with the visiting defence stretched, a long pass by Costelow found Plumtree out wide, with the No. 8 taking the bouncing pass and touching down.
Cardiff responded on 18 minutes with a try from skipper Liam Belcher after a strong line-out drive. Sheedy pushed his conversion attempt wide, but the visitors were right back in it shortly afterwards with a second, scored by Wales international Mason Grady. Sheedy’s conversion cut the deficit to three points.
Scarlets had plenty of ball and territory in the closing minutes of the half, but were unable to shift to the scoreboard as Cardiff’s defence held firm.
It was Cardiff who took control of the match after the break, laying siege to the Scarlets line, leading to yellow cards for Ryan Elias for a dangerous tackle and prop Alec Hepburn following a series of penalties at scrum time.
Cardiff made that numerical advantage pay, crafting a corner try for replacement Harri Millard. Costelow missed a penalty from the tee, then Ben Thomas took advantage of an error in the Scarlets backfield for their bonus-point score.
Belcher himself was shown yellow for a high hit on Johnny Williams, but despite throwing everything at the blue and blacks in the final minutes, Scarlets were unable to finish off the attacks, with loose passes and handling letting them down.
Scarlets – tries: M. Page, S. Plumtree. Con: S. Costelow. Pen: Costelow
Cardiff – tries: L. Belcher, M. Grady, H. Millard, B. Thomas, Cons: C. Sheedy (2).
Scarlets: Ioan Lloyd; Tom Rogers (repl Sam O’Connor 55, Ellis Mee 67), Macs Page, Johnny Williams (Eddie James 71); Blair Murray; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies (Efan Jones 77); Alec Hepburn (repl Sam O’Connor 65), Ryan Elias (repl Marnus van der Merwe 61), Henry Thomas (repl Sam Wainwright 64), Alex Craig (repl Jac Price 73), Max Douglas, Jarrod Taylor (rep Marnus van der Merwe 51), Josh Macleod (capt; repl Dan Davis 67) Taine Plumtree.