Scarlets will return from South Africa empty handed after suffering a 52-7 loss to the DHL Stormers in Stellenbosch.

The former champions crossed for eight tries in all, with a first-half try from Wales international Kieran Hardy all the West Walians had to show for their efforts.

The Scarlets finished the game with a host of youngsters on the field and they would have learned a lot of tough lessons from their two weeks in the Rainbow Nation.

Head coach Dwayne Peel will now focus on picking up his squad ahead of the first home match of the season against Cardiff in Llanelli next Saturday.

Scarlets were forced into a late change before kick-off with Ioan Nicholas replacing Tom Rogers on the right wing.

Looking to bounce back from their heavy loss to the Bulls on the Highveld, Scarlets would have had a ‘fast start’ message ringing in their ears when they took the field at the Danie Craven Stadium. Instead it was the South Africans, once again, who flew out of the blocks.

In a frantic opening, a converted period of pressure from the Stormers eventually led to flanker Marcel Theunissen taking a quick tap and driving over at the posts. Former Scarlet Clayton Blommetjies converted,

A driving close-range line-out led to Theunissen touching down for his and the Stormers’ second and it looked ominous for the West Walians with barely a quarter of an hour on the clock.

However, the Scarlets’ response was a positive one.

A clever kick through from skipper Jonathan Davies caused panic in the home defence and almost led to a try for Nicholas. 

Moments later, Scarlets did find their way over the whitewash. This time it was the home side who were caught napping as Kieran Hardy took a sharp tap from a close-range penalty and dived over between the uprights. Ioan Lloyd landed the conversion from straight in front.

The 2022 champions took advantage of a lost defensive line-out by the Scarlets to pounce for their third try through scrum-half Paul de Wet and a breakout from deep led to Blommetjies finishing off the fourth and adding the extras to make it 24-7.

A fifth arrived before half-time through former London Irish wing Ben Loader and at half-time Scarlets were facing a mountain to climb, tralining 31-7.

It got worse two minutes after the restart when Scarlets were turned over inside their half and de Wet waltzed over in the corner.

Impressive centre Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, a former exchange student at Llandovery College, converted and crossed for a try of his own on the hour mark.

Injuries caused a major reshuffle in the Scarlets side, but to their credit they kept on battling.

Replacement Courtnall Skosan, the former Northampton speedster, brought up the half century and despite some late pressure by the Scarlets, they were unable to claim a consolation in the dying seconds.

DHL Stormers - tries: M.Theunissen (2), P. de Wet (2), C. Blommetjies, B. Loader, S. Feinberg-Mngomezulu, C. Skosan Cons: C. Blommetjies (3), S. Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3).

Scarlets: Try: K. Hardy. Con: I. Lloyd