The smiles were back on Llanelli faces after today's victory - but the under-performing Welsh Cup holders did not have it all their own way against a battling Caerphilly side.

But coach Gareth Jenkins was not pleased after his side eased up in the second half.

"After 10 minutes of the second half the wheels fell off the wagon," he said.

"We lost our pattern and lost our focus but the result was pleasing," he explained.

Premature predictions

After three away defeats in eight days, Llanelli were relieved to get back to the green, grass of home and were determined to show that predictions of their demise were premature.

They proved the point within a minute of the start when wing Garan Evans cashed in on clever work by Guy Easterby to get the first try in the corner.

Two more scores followed inside the first 10 minutes through new flanker Dafydd Jones - after slick support play - and then by the speedy Mark Jones who got out of two tackles to race in from 40 yards.

By half time the Scarlets had stretched their lead to 36-0 as Mark Jones added a second try, Neil Boobyer got his first and fly-half Alex Lawson added a penalty to his three conversions.

Two more tries from Neil Boobyer and Easterby followed in the first seven minutes of the second half - and strangely Llanelli seemed to think that was enough.

Caerphilly recovery

Caerphilly called on all their replacements and responded with a storming rally.

They were rewarded with four unanswered tries in the final 20 minutes by Sean Marshall, David Hawkins, Justin Thomas and Roddy Boobyer, leaving Llanelli pondering where to turn to lift the siege.

With a new European campaign starting in under three weeks they were reminded sharply there is still a long way to go if they want to repeat the Heineken Cup heroics of last season.

Scorers - Llanelli: Tries: M. Jones 2, N. Boobyer 2, Evans, G. Easterby, James. Cons: Lawson 4. Pens: Lawson.
Scorers - Caerphilly Tries: J. Thomas, Hawkins, Marshall, Boobyer. Cons: John 3.
Att: 2,500

Teams

Llanelli: M Cardey, M Jones, S Finau, N Boobyer, G Evans, A Lawson, G Easterby, P Booth, M Thomas, J Davies, V Cooper, C Gillies, D Jones, M Buckingham, S Quinnell (capt)
Replacements: M Madden, R McBryde, C Wyatt, A Bennett, D Peel, S Jones, D James

Caerphilly:J Thomas, S Marshall, G Evans, D Hawkins, D Griffiths, C John, J Hooper, M Bolton, T Carless, M Wilson, M Workman, N Jones, A Davies, N Strong, C Brown.

Referee: Hugh Watkins (WRU)