Scarlets were well below their best as they went down to a 31-14 Judgement Day defeat to Dragons RFC  in the opening match of the Principality Stadium double header.

Dwayne Peel’s side never recovered from a woeful opening which saw them concede three tries in 17 minutes after having lock Vaea Fifita yellow carded.

They did haul themselves back into the contest through tries from scrum-half Kieran Hardy and No. 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu either side of half-time, but the damage had already been done.

Scarlets have been in impressive form for the second half of the season, but there were far too many unfamiliar errors throughout their performance, falling off tackles and spilling passes, while the line-out also malfunctioned.

Attention will now turn quickly to next Saturday’s European Challenge Cup semi-final against Glasgow in front of a bumper Parc y Scarlets crowd.

Dragons had triumphed in the previous Judgement Day encounter between the teams four years ago and looked hungry for another scalp as they dominated the opening exchanges.

On the flip side, it was a disastrous start for the Scarlets, with the ‘home’ side running in three unanswered tries in the opening quarter following the early sin-binning of Fifita.

With the Tongan international still taking his seat, hooker Elliot Dee touched down at the back of a driving line-out, then moments later Wales international wing Rio Dyer set up former Scarlet Jordan Williams for a second, both converted by fly-half Angus O’Brien.

With the Scarlets having barely touched the ball, the Dragons were celebrating their third when centre Sio Tomkinson took a quick tap and dived over at the posts. O’Brien’s conversion made it 21-0 with just 17 minutes on the stadium clock.

The Scarlets finally started to claw their way back into the contest when fly-half Sam Costelow broke clear to set up an attacking scrum. From it, wing Steff Evans dabbed down in the corner only for the try to be chalked off for a forward pass. The score did eventually come, though, with Hardy darting off the back of a scrum and showing good strength to score.

Scarlets had further opportunities to reduce the deficit before the break, but resolute Dragons defence kept them at bay.

The second half started where the first had left off, with Scarlets enjoying plenty of possession and territory, but the killer touch was missing and instead it was the Dragons who got the scoreboard moving through a long-range O’Brien penalty.

Replacement Daf Hughes almost took advantage of an overthrown line-out and Tom Rogers was nudged into touch as Scarlets continued to press, but again chances were squandered.

Scarlets’ did manage a second try when Tuipulotu showed his strength to power over with 10 minutes remaining.

But they were unable to mount a comeback and the final word went to the Dragons and ex-Scarlet Steff Hughes, who crossed at the posts for a bonus-point try in stoppage time.

ENDS