Black Day for Scarlets

Llanelli came to Leicester buoyed by a good bonus point win against Perpignan in Wales. Most pundits and fans seemed to be expecting a close game.  The weather was ideal for running rugby with dry ground and bright autumnal sunshine, which probably suited the game the Scarlets planned to play. Tiger had also garnered 5 points in Italy but had come within a few minutes of a disasterous loss in Treviso.  Tigers hopes rested therefore on home advantage and the return from injury of Toby Flood, Anthony Allen and Marcos Ayerza.

Just over 19,000 made their way to Welford Road despite the match being available to those with a subscription to Sky. Llanelli wore their change strip of black.

Tigers started strongly but Tuilagi knocked on.  Scarlets attacked promisingly and Tuilagi was given a yellow card as he deliberately knocked on to prevent a likely try.  Tigers won the ball back and drove the Scarlets back to their 22 but the Scarlet grabbed th ball back and it was passed to the left where an interchange of passes between Josh Turnbull and Regan King put Morgan Stoddart clear to score. Stephen Jones' conversion put the visitors 7-0 ahead.
Despite being down to 14 men Tigers forced Llanelli back to their try line via an overlap on the right and Castrogiovanni was following up and drove on to score. The referee went to the television match official before confirming the try. The conversion by Flood levelled the scores.

Tigers dominated possession and pressed Scarlets whose defence was impressive.  Flood missed a penalty attempt but kicked another long range penalty to touch in the corner in front of the Terrace. From the close-range lineout the ball was driven on by the forwards but Skivington was held up over the line.  Tigers continued to dominate possession and took the lead for the first time when Rob McCusker erred at a ruck near the Llanelli 22 and Flood knocked his kick between the posts.

Scarlets centre Regan King was yellow carded for offside at a ruck and Flood extended Tigers' lead to 13-7.  But Llanelli made light of the missing centre as Tigers committed a ruck offence within range and Stephen Jones converted the opportunity to leave Tigers only 13-10 up at the whistle for half time.
Tigers began the second half with high energy. With the Llanelli defence still mentally in the changing rooms, Ben Youngs darted down the side of a ruck on the 22m out to score untouched. Flood converted to put Tigers 10 points ahead.

A quick free-kick by Youngs and a superbly timed pass opened up a gap for Thomas Waldrom to run to the line unopposed. Flood added 2 more points.
Scarlets did not give up and attacked from deep in their half but a misplaced pass by Jones on his 22 that allowed Geordan Murphy picked up possession and find Croft on his shoulder for a short run to the line. The crowd roared its approval.

Scarlets gathered themselves and had a good period of possession which stretched the Tigers defence.  However one misplaced pass allowed Alesana Tuilagi to kick and follow up and with help from others secure quick possession for Croft to run in his second try. Flood kicked a conversion from close to the touchline to take Tigers' lead to 41-10.
Leicester added a sixth try when Murphy broke from halfway and his mazy run was halted just short of the line two. Quick ball saw three men in position to score but it was Matt Smith who was given the honour.
This was a powerful and efficient performance from Leicester Tigers.  Llanelli wore black jerseys but they were torn to shreds by the Tiger claws and metaphorically stained scarlet by the end.  Bring on Perpignan.