Scarlets came off second best on derby day, going down to a disappointing 31-9 defeat to the Ospreys at the Swansea.com Stadium.

The home side scored two tries in each half, while all the Scarlets had to show for their efforts were three penalties from the boot of fly-half Ioan Lloyd.

Scarlets were on the board after four minutes with Lloyd landing a 40-metre penalty following a scrum decision in the visitors’ favour.

However, they then failed to deal with the restart and it led to Ospreys punishing the error with a Kieran Williams score from a close-range driving line-out. Jack Walsh converted.

In see-sawing opening, a superbly-struck penalty from Lloyd reduced the arrears to a point before the Ospreys and player of the match Williams were over again for a second, the centre cutting a strong running line from an attacking scrum.

A monstrous hit by Vaea Fifita won the Scarlets another kickable penalty, which Lloyd duly landed to make it 14-9, but Walsh continued to keep the visitors at arm’s length with three more of his own.

Trailing 17-9 at the break, Scarlets needed to come out firing, but the opening 11 minutes of the second half were spent in Scarlets territory and the siege by the home pack eventually led to Ospreys skipper Morgan Morris going over for his side’s third try; Walsh’s conversion extending the lead to 24-9.

Scarlets’ woes continued when replacement prop Steff Thomas was shown yellow following a series of team infringements and as the match wore on, errors continued to riddle the West Walians’ game.

In the midst of it all, new signing Joe Jones came on to make his debut, but the Scarlets bench were unable to stem the black tide.

With six minutes remaining, Ospreys fans were celebrating their bonus-point score after replacement Dan Edwards scooted away to the posts.

Scarlets will look to pick themselves up next Saturday when they take on Cardiff at the Arms Park in round seven of the BKT United Rugby Championship.

Ospreys - tries: K. Williams (2), M. Morris, D. Edwards. Cons: J. Walsh (4). Pen: Walsh

Scarlets - pens: I. Lloyd (3).