Scarlets, who play Munster next weekend, kept their hopes of a place in the RaboDirect Pro12 play-offs alive with a hard-fought victory over bottom side Aironi in Viadana yesterday.

Scarlets 17 Northampton 29

TWO tries by Stephen Ferris helped Ulster come back from an early bombardment by the Scarlets to claim much-needed RaboDirect Pro 12 League points at Ravenhill last night.

FIRST, something we expected — a New Zealand win.