For the second successive Saturday at Parc y Scarlets, the home team suffered late agony, with a penalty from Springbok World Cup winner Handre Pollard sealing a see-sawing 23-21 victory for the play-off chasing Vodacom Bulls.
Scarlets had led a bruising contest until the 79th minute and outscored the visitors by three tries to two, but the nerveless kicking of player-of-the-match Pollard, who finished with a personal haul of 18 points, proved crucial.
Again, there was plenty for Nigel Davies and his coaching team to be proud of as the West Walians went toe to toe with a juggernaut Bulls side stacked with Springboks.
They had arrived in Llanelli on the back of a thumping win over the Dragons and were overwhelming favourites to do the same to the Scarlets – despite having lost on their two previous visits – but instead, the visitors were mightily relieved to snatch the points at the final whistle.
Debutant Callum Woolley, centre Eddie James and skipper Fletcher Anderson crossed for Scarlets tries in a performance that Davies later said was a step forward for the side as the campaign enters the final weeks.
In confident mood from their impressive recent wins, the Bulls were on the board inside the opening four minutes after wing Cheswill Jooste raced through a gap from a slick line-out move.
But back came the Scarlets and patient build-up play led to Joe Hawkins throwing a lovely miss pass that allowed Woolley to gather and dive over in the corner to mark his first URC appearance.
On 20 minutes, Scarlets fans were celebrating their second; Wales centre Eddie James cutting a brilliant line from a line-out move that saw him scythe through the Bulls defence and stretch over. Hawkins’s conversion rebounded off the upright and Scarlets led 10-7.
However, the home side were then struck by a sucker bunch which saw the Bulls break clear from inside their own half and eventually carve open a score for that man Pollard. The fly-half’s successful conversion saw the Bulls lead 14-10 at the break.
Scarlets started the second half strongly and Bulls were reduced to 13 men when centre Stedman Gans (off-the-ball-tackle) and replacement prop Francois Klopper (offside) were yellow carded in quick succession.
The home camp felt they should have had a penalty try with Plumtree looking like scoring, but from the ensuing tap penalty, hooker Ryan Elias carried to the line before the outstanding Anderson powered over.
Scarlets failed to make their dominance pay, however, despite creating chances and it was the Bulls who restored their lead when Pollard landed a penalty from halfway on 58 minutes.
The final quarter proved a cagey affair.
Hawkins and Pollard slotted penalties, then Hawkins put the Scarlets ahead with a superb 40-metre strike with six minutes left on the clock.
The Bulls had a late score by full-back David Kriel chalked off for a forward pass in the build-up, then in a dramatic finale, the visitors’ set-piece won a penalty at the scrum and the following line-out which led to Pollard driving the final nail home with a minute to go.
Scarlets – tries: C. Woolley, E. James, F. Anderson. Pens: J. Hawkins (2)
Vodacom Bulls – tries: C. Jooste, H. Pollard. Cons: Pollard (2). Pens: Pollard (3)
Blair Murray; Callum Woolley (repl Ioan Jones 57), Joe Roberts, Eddie James, Macs Page; Joe Hawkins, Dane Blacker (repl Archie Hughes 59); Kemsley Mathias (repl Josh Morse 72), Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas (repl Harri O’Connor 79); Sam Lousi (repl Jac Price 74), Max Douglas; Taine Plumtree, Jarrod Taylor (repl Tristan Davies 80), Fletcher Anderson (capt).
Attendance: 5,180
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)