Scarlets nilled in league for first time in 18 years

United Rugby Championship

Scarlets (0) 0

Stormers (17) 34

Tries: Roos, de Villiers, van Heerden, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Khan Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2, Willemse Pen: Feinberg-Mngomezulu

Scarlets were nilled in a league game for the first time in more than 18 years with Stormers celebrating a five-try victory to maintain their perfect start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season.

Evan Roos and Paul de Villiers crossed in a one-sided first half, with the sluggish hosts fortunate to only trail 17-0.

Scarlets toiled after the break, but could do little to prevent Ruben van Heeden, Imad Khan and man of the moment Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu from bagging the bonus-point.

It was another hugely disappointing home performance from Scarlets, while their injury list continues to grow.

Stormers, meanwhile, made it three wins from three and start the weekend at the top of the URC table.

Despite an all international front row, there was early concern at scrum time for Scarlets, with the injured Jake Ball and Sam Lousi big misses in the second-row.

Stormers were equally dominant in the maul, with Roos benefitting from a 10 metre rumble to cross for the opening try - his fourth in two games.

Scarlets continued to give away penalties as they struggled for a foothold, but Springbok superstar Feinberg-Mngomezulu let them off the hook with some early misses from the tee.

But the power of the pack made up for any wayward kicks, and they threatened a second try before the half hour mark, but Roos was heroically held up.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu continued to pose a threat, with his speed and footwork gracing the turf at Llandovery College just a few years ago.

But they lost flanker Ben-Jason Dixon to a yellow card for an illegal "croc roll" tackle, while Tristan Davies added to Scarlets' injury woes.

With the extra man the hosts enjoyed a brief spell off possession in Stormers' 22, but inaccuracies soon found them back on the defence.

Taine Plumtree followed Dixon to the sin bin for some reckless retaliation.

Scarlets rode their luck and looked to be heading down the tunnel with just a 10 point deficit, but with the penalty count rising to 15, they could do little to stop the maul in the final attack of the half, with de Villiers crashing over from close range.

A raft of changes saw Scarlets slightly improve in the second half, with skipper Johnny Williams leading the charge with some powerful runs through the midfield .

Ellis Mee may also caught the eye of Wales' new head coach Steve Tandy who was among the 6,114 Llanelli crowd.

Things became niggly between the two sides with referee Federico Vedovelli having his hands full, and Stormers playmaker Feinberg-Mngomezulu was shown a yellow card for an infringement at the ruck.

Still they managed to dominate and van Heerden crossed just before the hour mark to put them one try closer to the bonus-point.

That came five minutes later and it was Feinberg-Mngomezulu who scooped up a loose ball to go over in the corner.

Things went from bad to worse when Macs Page was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-when Stormers threatened a fifth try, and that eventually came from replacement Khan five minutes from time.

It was another sobering night in Llanelli for Peel's side after their opening round 34-21 defeat by Munster, with a mini tour to South Africa next up.

Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, J Roberts, J Williams (capt), Mee; Hawkins, G Davies; Hepburn, Van der Merwe, H Thomas, T Davies, Douglas, Taylor, Davis, Plumtree.

Replacements: Myhill, S O'Connor, Holz, Cummins, B Williams, Blacker, Costelow, Page.

Stormers: D Willemse; Senatla, Simelane, R Nel (capt), Zas; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ungerer; Vermaak, Kotze, Sandi, Schickerling, R van Heerden, P de Villiers, Dixon, Roos.

Replacements: A-H Venter, Matongo, Porthen, Evans, Theunissen, Fourie, Khan, Matthee.

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)

Assistant referees: Ben Connor, Carwyn Sion (WRU)

TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)

Sin bin: Dixon (29 mins), Plumtree (33 mins), Feinberg-Mngomezulu (53 mins), Page (72 mins)