THE Scarlets' weekend went from bad to worse as two bonus-point victories — first for the Blues on Saturday, then Gloucester at Harlequins yesterday — dumped them out of the LV= Cup.

Before Saturday they needed just one point to seal a home tie in the last four.

But it all went terribly awry for the West Wales region in the space of 24 hours.

But even though the Blues' bonus-point victory ripped their own destiny out of Scarlets' hands and it forced them to reassess their ambitions, they still had the fallback of Quins beating Gloucester.

Like the Scarlets against the Blues, Quins led at half-time before Gloucester racked up five tries.

In the end Gloucester and the Scarlets ended on 15 points each in their Pool, but the Cherry and Whites go through on a superior try count.

But even before Gloucester's 31-29 win at the Stoop, Scarlets coach Nigel Davies knew matters were not going to plan.

"We let a golden opportunity slip away," admitted Davies after watching his side let slip a 17-7 interval lead.

"We are bitterly disappointed that we didn't nail the win and a home game in the semi-final. But that's what's happened. We have to deal with it and move on.

"We controlled the first half and I was pleased with the way we were playing, but we knew at half-time they were going to come at us. That's exactly what they did and we tended to stand off them.

"I was always wary of a backlash because it was obvious they were going for a bonus-point win.

"The team collapsed a little bit which is a bit annoying, particularly because of the character the boys have shown this year."

The fact both regions were so intent on semi-final qualification meant two strong sides took the field, not least the return of Regan King for his first start in 11 months since seriously injuring his hamstring.

But the quality of the respective teams did not personify itself on the pitch.

A tedious kicking duel was one of the main reasons the contest remained scoreless until the 29th minute. At that stage an eight-try thriller looked a million miles away.

But in between the mediocre stuff early on, there were plenty of chances on offer.

Try-saving

Blues flanker Sam Warburton charged-down a kick from Dan Evans but could not regather, Scarlets' Lee Williams looked to pass when he could have scored in the right corner, and at the other end Williams pulled off a great try-saving tackle on Gareth Thomas just yards from the line.

The stalemate was eventually ended by Rhys Priestland, who forced his way over from five metres out after a concerted period of Scarlets pressure.

The Blues should have replied straight away but Ceri Sweeney dropped the ball under the posts. His blushes were spared on 34 minutes when Tom Shanklin forced his way over to level things at 7-7.

But it was all Scarlets for the rest of the half as they scored two tries in the space of four minutes to lead 17-7 at half-time.

First Williams made up for his earlier effort by winning the race over the line after he kicked ahead, and after a strong scrum David Lyons squeezed in.

After the break it was all Blues as they raced into a 28-17 lead with three tries — two for Casey Laulala.

His first came from a scrum on the 22 and six minutes later he ran in 70 metres after intercepting a pass.

The Blues' purple patch was complete when prop Taufa'ao Filise burrowed over for the bonus-point try.

The Scarlets stopped the rot with two Priestland penalties, but the losing bonus point was ripped out of their grasp by Tito's try two minutes from time. But the real damage came 24 hours later, 200 miles down the M4.