HEINEKEN CUP, POOL FOUR Llanelli Scarlets (13) 19 Try: Quinnell Con: S. Jones Pens: S Jones (4) Agen (8) 15 Tries: Dourthe, Curnier Con: Miquel Pen: Miquel. Att: 9,438

Agen valiantly made them fight all the way, shading Llanelli 2-1 on tries, but Wales fly-half Stephen Jones' goalkicking ultimately steered the Scarlets home.

The prolific Jones booted 14 points - four penalties and a conversion of Scott Quinnell's first-half try - which thwarted Agen's victory hopes.

Agen manufactured tries for wing Matthieu Dourthe and hooker Noel Curnier, while fly-half Jerome Miquel slotted a conversion and penalty.

The French side made all the running after absorbing early Scarlets pressure and Miquel, in his first appearance since completing a four-week suspension, slotted an opening penalty on five minutes.

Miquel played a key role in Agen's second score five minutes later when the home defence failed to cope with his towering up and under.

Centre Sebastien Bonetti collected the ball and sent Dourthe scampering over for a simply-worked try.

The fly-half though missed the easy conversion and another penalty, and there were huge sighs of relief around Stradey Park when Jones opened Llanelli's account through a 12th-minute strike.

I'm a little disappointed maybe we didn't pick up a couple of tries, but in saying that we'll take the win Scarlets director of rugby Gareth Jenkins

Scarlets were guilty of squandering some excellent attacking opportunities, notably when flanker Dafydd Jones blissfully ignored a one-man overlap.

But Quinnell's 21st-minute try, when he powered over from a close-range scrum in trademark fashion and Jones secured a 13-8 interval advantage by landing the conversion and a later penalty.

He added his third successful penalty on 51 minutes following sustained forward pressure, leaving Agen eight points adrift.

But from their next attack, Agen narrowed the gap to a point when the forwards drove a lineout 10 metres towards Llanelli's line, and Curnier touched down for a try which Miquel converted.

The Scarlets just could not kill the game off, but a fourth Jones penalty nine minutes from time gave them breathing space.

The home side had just enough in the tank to keep going, although Agen gained a losing bonus point which could prove priceless in the final pool shake-up.

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

Agen: P Elhorga; L Lafforgue, C Stolz, S Bonetti, M Dourthe; J Miquel, F Tandonnet; P Blanco, N Curnier, O Hasan, M Kahla, J Parent, M Lievremont, P Benetton (capt), O Sverzut.
Replacements: P Piacentini, A Dosser, L Fior, S Socol, C Coro, G Bouic, S Mirande.

Referee: David McHugh (Ireland).