Scarlets left Treviso empty-handed after a second-half fightback proved not enough to claim a first win of the BKT United Rugby Championship campaign.

After trailing 26-9 at one stage, Dwayne Peel’s side hauled themselves back to 26-23 thanks to tries from Sione Kalamafoni and Johnny Williams.

But it was the Italians who pounced for a late score to secure the points from an error-strewn contest.

Leigh Halfpenny announced his return with three penalty kicks from three, while Ken Owens also made his comeback in the second period.

It was Josh Macleod who led out the side on his 100th appearance, but, cruelly, his match lasted barely a minute after he picked up a blow to the head and was replaced by Blade Thomson, who himself was playing his 50th game for the club.

A cagey opening half was dominated by the boot as both sides were guilty of handling errors.

Fly-half Tomos Albornoz got the scoreboard operators working with a fifth minute penalty, but the Scarlets spent most of the half on the defensive with a Thomson burst from deep one of the highlights.

It was Albornoz who extended Benetton’s lead when he slipped off a couple of tackles to touch down for the game’s first try on 31 minutes - a score he also converted.

Halfpenny, playing his 50th match for the Scarlets, reduced the arrears with his first penalty, then after Albornoz added three more, the Wales and Lions full-back nailed a beauty from 40 metres out to cut the deficit to six points at the interval.

With the Scarlets failing to deal with a downfield kick, Albornoz added three more points to Benetton’s tally two minutes after the restart.

A period of pressure from the West Walians led to a third Halfpenny success, but a penalty against Vaea Fifita saw player of the match Albornoz add three more for the home side.

The game appeared out of reach on 57 minutes when Benetton struck for their second try of the night through wing Edoardo Padovanni, despite it looking like the scoring pass was forward. To compound matters wing Ryan Conbeer was shown yellow for a dangerous challenge.

But the Scarlets kept scrapping and eventually found their way over the whitewash on 61 minutes when Kalamafoni picked up and charged over after a quick tap from replacement scrum-half Dane Blacker.

The visitors were celebrating a second with 10 minutes remaining; Johnny Williams powering through some fragile midfield defence for the score.

Rhys Patchell’s conversion slashed the advantage to just three points, but that was as good as it got for the Scarlets with a Rhyno Smith penalty and late score for replacement Tommaso Menonchello securing the win for the hosts.