Scarlets hold off Castres in Heineken Cup

Llanelli Scarlets held off French Top 14 Club Castres for a 31-23 Heineken Cup Pool 1 victory at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.

Welsh wing George North inspired the Scarlets to a winning start in the Heineken
Cup this afternoon with a man of the match performance against Castres.

A clinical second-half performance from the Scarlets was enough to claim the
win, built on the back of a string of impressive displays from their International
contingent.

The first period was all about the boot, Stephen Jones kicking three penalties
to Romain Teulet’s two as the Welsh region went into the break 9 – 6 ahead.

The second period was a much different story at Parc y Scarlets and the Scarlets
signalled their intentions early on with a Sean Lamont try.

Teulet grabbed a penalty back for Castres before North powered upfield setting
up his side’s second try as number eight Ben Morgan touched down.

Marc Andreu grabbed a try back for Castres and Teulet’s conversion reduced
the scores to 23 – 16.

The Scarlets though were soon back on form, Scott Williams racing clear before
feeding Jonathan Davies to score.

Castres captain Chris Masoe set up a tense finish with his late try but Rhys
Priestland came off the bench for the hsots to land a crucial late penalty which
also denied Castres a losing bonus point.

Final Score Scarlets 31 (9) Castres 23 (6)

Scorers

Scarlets
Tries: Lamont, Morgan, Davies
Penalties: Jones 3, Priestland
Conversions: Jones 2

Castres
Tries: Andreu, Masoe
Penalties: Teulet 3
Conversions: Teulet 2

Referee: Greg Garner (England)

Teams

Scarlets: L Williams; G North, S Williams, J Davies, S Lamont; S Jones, T Knoyle; I Thomas, M Rees [capt], R Thomas, D Day, D Welch, A Shingler, J Edwards, B Morgan

Replacements: K Owens, P John, R Jones, S Timani, R Pugh, R Williams, R Priestland, D Evans

Castres Olympique: R Teulet; M Nicolas, P Bonnefond, R Cabannes, M Andreu; R Tales, T Lacrampe; A Peikrishvili, M Rallier, L Ducalcon, M Rolland, R Capo Ortega, C Masoe [capt], S Malonga, I Tekori

Replacements: B Mach, M Coetzee, K Wihongi, S Murray, J Bornman, T Sanchou, P Bernard, P Garcia

With thanks to ERCRugby.