Seven-try Pau dent Scarlets’ knockout hopes

European Champions Cup Pool 4

Scarlets (24) 38

Tries: Macleod 2, Hughes, Plumtree, Hawkins Cons: Hawkins 2 Pen: Hawkins

Pau (26) 47

Tries: Butlin 2, Mondinat, Tuipulotu, Seneca, Attissogbe, Tokolahi Cons: Desperes 6

Pau survived Scarlets’ second half comeback to come out on top of a thrilling Champions Cup contest in Llanelli.

The Top 14 side stormed into the lead with four tries inside the first half an hour, with Dwayne Peel’s men staring down the barrel of another sobering loss.

Explosive wing Toshi Butlin twice went over before Clement Mondinat’s effort, with Carywn Tuipulotu bagging the bonus-point against his former side.

Josh Macleod twice crossed to drag Scarlets back into the contest, with Archie Hughes’ effort bringing them back to within two points.

Taine Plumtree and Joe Hawkins burst over after the break to give Scarlets’ fans hope, only for Pau to show their pedigree with three unanswered tries from Remi Seneca, Theo Attissogbe and Siate Tokolahi.

Scarlets must beat Northampton Saints away next Sunday to keep slim hopes of finishing in the pool’s top four alive, while Pau play Bulls on Friday.

Scarlets are currently fifth which would be enough to drop into the knockout phases of the Challenge Cup competition.

Scarlets enjoyed an early spell of pressure but after having two driving mauls repelled, they settled for a Hawkins penalty.

But they switched off when a quick-tap penalty by full-back Attissogbe released Butlin who showed a good turn of pace down his wing.

Butlin’s European debut became even more impressive five minutes later when he latched onto a looping pass from Desperes to saunter over for a second.

A third Pau try came inside a devastating eight minute period, Attisogbe broke the line before giving the scoring pass to replacement Mondinat.

Just as the game looked to be getting away, Scarlets hit back when a superb Hawkins touch finder provided a promising platform. Ryan Elias found his target at the lineout and Macleod touched down from the maul.

But Pau once again silenced the sparse crowd with Tuipulotu crashing over and leaving his former side a mountain to climb.

Scarlets recovered from the disappointment of having a Henry Thomas try disallowed with another powerful maul, and there was no stopping Macleod once he got a sniff of a second.

Pau flanker Reece Hewat was shown a yellow card in the build-up, and with their tails up, Tom Rogers was quickest to pounce on a loose ball and chipped ahead for Hughes to win the foot race to the line.

Still a man up after the break, Kemsley Mathias’ outrageous step looked to have set up a try, but a TMO intervention showed the loose-head had been held up.

Scarlets kept coming and a powerful run by Plumtree broke the defensive line, and while he also looked to have been held up, the in-form flanker managed to wriggle free to ground the ball as Scarlets took the lead for the first time since the eighth minute.

With the crowd now behind them, Pau’s discipline started to crumble and Hawkins finished off after the driving maul had done most of the damage.

Nathan Decron headed to the sin bin for an infringement, but Scarlets failed to take advantage as Pau demonstrated why they are currently the second best team in the Top 14.

They brought on their replacement forwards who made an instant impact, with prop Seneca taking advantage of some mis-communication in the defence to bust through.

A careless Sam Lousi penalty gifted Pau a five metre lineout, with Attissogbe finding a gap to give his side the lead once more.

Fletcher Anderson looked to have come up with what could have been a winning try after Eddie James’ pressure had won back possession, but the Scarlets number eight was stripped of the ball moments before grounding.

Lengthy replays added to the late drama, but Scarlets fans were left booing the final decision and it was Pau who finished with a flourish with a well-taken try from Tokolahi.

Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, Roberts, James, Mee; Hawkins, Hughes; Mathias, Elias, Thomas, Lousi, Ball, Plumtree, Macleod (capt), Anderson.

Replacements: Van der Merwe, Hepburn, O’Connor, Price, Davis, Blacker, Leggatt-Jones, Nicholas.

Pau: Attissogbe; Arfeuil, Decron, Valentino, Butlin; Desperes, Daubagna (capt); Etchebehere, Delhommel,Arrieta, Jolmes, Capelli, Zegueur, Hewat, Tuipulotu.

Replacements: Rey, Seneca, Tokolahi, Liufau, Iosefo, Pelesasa, Robson, Mondinat.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Sco)

Assistants: Ian Kenny (Sco), Finlay Brown (Sco)

TMO: Dave Sutherland (Sco)

Sin bin: Hewat (34), Decron (50)