Scarlets’ European journey came to an end in Franklin’s Gardens, but the West Walians went down fighting, eventually losing 43-28 against last year’s beaten Champions Cup finalists.
In the end, Saints were grateful to a late penalty and stoppage time try to withstand a stirring comeback by the visitors, who defied all the pre-match predictions with a performance worthy of the competition.
First-half tries by Ryan Elias and Archie Hughes had given the Scarlets’ hopes of a massive upset and a qualification to the knockout stages that nobody had given them hope of.
But with their scrum a major weapon, Saints took a grip on the contest either side of half-time to move 33-14 ahead.
Tries by Sam Costelow and Jac Davies gave Scarlets late hope of an astonishing snatch and grab, but it was Saints who were able to see out the contest to ensure they advance to the round of 16 with a home draw.
With the Scarlets travelling army in fine voice, the side – needing a win to progress – responded to the tune and flew out of the blocks.
The bright start was rewarded with a fourth-minute try from Elias after Taine Plumtree had done brilliantly to charge down England scrum-half Alex Mitchell, gather the bouncing ball and offload to his hooker. Costelow added the extras.
Scarlets lost Jake Ball in the eighth minute following a blow to the head in a Saints tackle. He was replaced by Jarrod Taylor.
Some ill-discipline by the visitors led to Saints responding on 17 minutes with Italian wing Edoardo Todaro finding his way over for the first of three first-half tries. Anthony Belleau’s conversion levelled things up.
But back came Scarlets with a stunning set-piece score. Slick hands freed Ellis Mee on the right wing and he did brilliantly to outstrip his opposite number, cut inside then feed Hughes on his inside for the score. Costelow’s touchline conversion made it 14-7.
But in the final five minutes of the half Saints turned a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead with two quickfire scores.
Following a string of scrum infringements against the Scarlets, loose-head prop Kemsley Mathias was sent to the sin bin and Saints capitalised straight away with Todaro diving in for his second. Belleau’s conversion was pushed wide. Then, on the stroke of half-time, the winger struck for his hat-trick with the conversion making it 19-14 at the break.
Saints pushed further ahead with their bonus-point score 10 minutes after the restart, wing Ollie Sleightholme getting into the try-scoring action. Belleau’s conversion made it 26-14 and suddenly there was daylight between the teams.
Replacement Craig Wright was the beneficiary of a driving maul score on the hour mark and when Belleau made it 33-14 that looked like it for the Scarlets’ European chances this season.
But the Scarlets were not giving it in and the visiting fans were celebrating a third try on 67 minutes.
A trademark Macleod turnover penalty put the Welsh side in good territorial position and after some strong carries by the outstanding Eddie James, Costelow sniped blind to dive over for a score he also converted.
Then, with eight minutes remaining, the home crowd were stunned by a fourth Scarlets try.
Pressure on the home line saw Costelow chip over the top and Jac Davies did brilliantly to pluck the ball out of the air to score at the posts for his first senior Scarlets try. Costelow’s conversion made it 33-28 with all to play for.
However, with five minutes left, Saints won a penalty inside the Scarlets 22 and Belleau was on target once again to take the score out to 36-28 and with the clock in the red Callum Chick rounded things off for the home side with a sixth home try.
Scorers – Saints: E. Todaro (3), O. Sleightholme, C. Wright, C. Chick. Cons: A. Belleau (6). Pen: Belleau
Scarlets – R. Elias, A. Hughes, S. Costelow, J. Davies. Cons: S. Costelow (4)
Jac Davies; Ellis Mee, Eddie James, Joe Hawkins (repl Macs Page 51), Blair Murray; Sam Costelow, Archie Hughes (repl Gareth Davies 47); Kemsley Mathias (repl Jarrod Taylor 45), Ryan Elias (repl Marnus van der Merwe 4&), Henry Thomas (repl Harri O’Connor 54), Max Douglas, Jake Ball (repl Jarrod Taylor 7; repl Alec Hepburn 35), Taine Plumtree, Josh Macleod (capt; repl Dan Davies 74), Fletcher Anderson.
Yellow card: Mathias (35)
Referee: Kevin Bralley (France)
Attendance: 15,153