HEINEKEN CUP POOL 4 Borders (7) 10 Tries: G Townsend Cons: G Morton Pen: Morton Scarlets (14) 41 Tries: B Davies (2), S Quinnell, D Peel, G Evans Cons: S Jones (2) Pens: Jones (4) Att: 3,260

A dominant performance from the Llanelli side's pack saw them to a crucial bonus-point win at Netherdale.

Tries from Scott Quinnell, Dwayne Peel, Garan Evans and a fine Barry Davies brace put the Scarlets in control at the top of Pool 4.

The only consolation for the Borders in a sorry display came in the form of an excellent try by centre Gregor Townsend.

Man-of-the-match Stephen Jones kicked 16 points for the Scarlets, his haul making him the third man along with Diego Dominguez and Ronan O'Gara to top 500 points in the Heineken Cup.

It was a slow start with both sides making sloppy mistakes, but with the Scarlets' front five taking a firm grip on possession it was a rearguard action by the Scots.

With the game being played largely in the home side's half, the Scarlets took the lead with three Jones penalties in the opening half hour.

The forwards were outstanding and gave us a great platform Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones

A further kickable penalty followed, but the Scarlets chose to go for the corner - and were suitably rewarded.

They won the line-out, Quinnell made ground in midfield and the ball was spun wide where Davies crashed over for the opening try.

The Borders brought the gap back to seven points at the break, again gaining the reward for kicking a penalty to the corner.

Quality ball was delivered to Tanner Vili and the Samoan fly-half drew two defenders in midfield before releasing Townsend for a clear run-in under the posts.

Conditions deteriorated in the second half

But as the driving rain came in at the start of the second half the Scarlets pack took an even firmer grip on proceedings.

The Borders were powerless to stop a dynamic driving maul, Quinnell exploding out of it to claim his second try of this season's Heineken Cup.

Peel started and finished the next try, the Scarlets scrum-half bursting through the middle of a ruck, exchanging passes with Simon Easterby and sprinting clear under the posts.

The Scarlets were desperate for the fourth try to secure a bonus point and another strong forward drive laid the platform.

The ball came to Mark Taylor who made a midfield break, fed Quinnell, and the big No 8 gave the scoring pass to Garan Evans in the corner.

The game was drifting to its conclusion when Phil John and Andy Rennick were mystifyingly sin-binned - following a punch by Cammie Murray on John right in front of referee Roy Maybank.

Our lack of experience shone through against an excellent team Borders director of rugby Tony Gilbert

Davies crowned the Scarlets' display with a superb individual score in injury time, beating two men in midfield before chipping over the covering defence and winning the race to the touchdown.

"The forwards were outstanding and gave us a great platform," said Stephen Jones after the game.

"I'm delighted to pass 500 points, but the win and the great team effort means more.

"There's a lot of experience in this squad and we've strengthened from last year, but we know there's a lot of rugby left in this group."

Frustrated Borders director of rugby Tony Gilbert admitted his team were "not mentally tough enough" to stand up to a side as strong and experienced as the Scarlets.

"Once they got hold of us, they just didn't let us off the hook," said Gilbert.

"We thought we were still in with a shout at half-time after Gregor Townsend's try, but we didn't have the ability to change things round when it mattered.

"We were reduced to living off scraps and our lack of experience shone through against an excellent team."

Borders: Gareth Morton; Nikki Walker, Gregor Townsend, Kevin Utterson (capt), Craig Moir; Tanner Vili, Chris Cusiter; George Graham, Ross Ford, Bruce Douglas, Doddie Weir, Scott MacLeod, Campbell Feather, Dan Kane, Semo Sititi.
Replacements: Matt Landels, Kelvin Todd, Colin Stewart, Andy Rennick, Gary Armstrong, Jono Stuart, Cammie Murray.

Scarlets: B Davies; G Evans, M Taylor, M Watkins, S Finau; S Jones, D Peel; I Thomas, R McBryde, J Davies, V Cooper (capt), A Jones, D Jones, S Easterby, S Quinnell.
Replacements: P John, A Gravelle, D Hodges, I Boobyer, D Burn, G Bowen, T Selley.

Referee: Roy Maybank (England)