Llanelli book place in Welsh final

Cardiff 10, Llanelli 44

Llanelli bounced back from their Heineken Cup heartbreak to book a place in a record 17th Welsh Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

Last year’s losing finalists dominated from the kick-off to set a mouth-watering East v West final against Newport on May 3.

The comfortable semi-final victory would have also eased the pain of their European quarter-final exit to Perpignan as the Scarlets crossed for six tries, all by their impressive back division.

As for Cardiff, they never recovered from their early setback with tries from centre Pieter Muller and a late consolation from wing Rhys Williams all to show for their efforts.

A confident Llanelli made a firm statement of their intent early on as they charged into a 15-0 lead with barely 13 minutes on the clock.

A sparkling long-range try by fullback Barry Davies and a fine solo effort from fly-half Stephen Jones set the tone for an accomplished first half display from the Scarlets, with man-of-the-match Jones also kicking a conversion and penalty.

Cardiff were finding possession difficult to come by but their dangerous back division took advantage of what they did receive on 23 minutes when brothers Jamie and Nicky Robinson carved open a try for Muller.

Wing Garan Evans, playing his 250th game for the club, produced a try-saving tackle on Nicky Robinson at one end and then was soon celebrating at the other after a break by Davies from fullback.

Llanelli put the seal on a commanding first half display with a well worked try by wing Mark Jones giving them a 27-5 lead at the break, which became 35-5 thanks to a second Jones penalty six minutes after the restart.

Cardiff were offered something of a lifeline when former Wales No.8 Scott Quinnell was shown a yellow card for a professional foul midway through the half, but even down to 14 men, Llanelli were able to cross for their fifth try through skipper Leigh Davies.

A late interception try by centre Matthew Watkins added to Cardiff’s misery before Williams raced over from long-range which was nothing but a consolation effort for the capital club.