Three penalties from Aled Thomas gave the Scarlets a 9-6 victory over Cardiff Blues at Arms Park on Friday in the RaboDirect Pro12.
Stand-off Thomas slotted three penalties in the first half to ensure the Scarlets remained in second place in the league table.
Thomas was on target twice in the first 10 minutes to give the visitors a flying start at the Arms Park.
His opposite number Rhys Patchell got Cardiff on the board with a 16th-minute penalty.
The Scarlets edged 9-3 in front just before half-time thanks to Thomas' third successful kick.
Patchell cut Cardiff's deficit to three points with his second penalty in the 58th minute but the Scarlets' defence held firm throughout the final quarter to close out their first win in four matches.
The scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Pens: Patchell 2
For Scarlets:
Pens: Thomas 3
Cardiff Blues: 15 Jason Tovey, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Harry Robinson, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Andries Preotrius (c), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 James Down, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Williams, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Alex Walker, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Owen Williams.
Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Scott Williams, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Kieran Murphy, 7 Aaron Shingler, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 George Earle, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Emyr Phillips, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Gareth Owen, 23 Gareth Maule.
Comments
makemehappy says...
@jontheref - I agree - he seemed to panic a few times, but basically refereed OK.
As for the game - YAWN! I hope it was just a bad dream!
Posted 12:15 22nd December 2012
jontheref says...
Have to say I thought the ref was very consistent.
Yes, he got some wrong, but first time I have seen him on probably his biggest stage.
Let's hope he can deliver in other games.
Blues played better than they have in recent games, yet still did not deserve to win.
Scarlets won whilst not playing too well.
Sets up the boxing day double bill quite well.
Posted 22:02 21st December 2012