Scarlets 20-17 Cheetahs: West Walians reach knockout stages with scrappy win

The Scarlets booked their place in the Challenge Cup knockout stages as they edged past the Cheetahs at a wet and windy Parc y Scarlets.

A third straight victory in the tournament kept them top of Pool B - becoming the first side to qualify for the knockout stages - but Dwayne Peel's side were made to work in Llanelli in a scrappy encounter. However, the boot of Leigh Halfpenny and tries from wings Steff Evans and Johnny McNicholl proved enough to get over the line.

Conditions appeared to dictate matters throughout, with long stretches of the two sides kicking for territory.

That largely worked for the Scarlets, with Leigh Halfpenny opening the score from the tee after 11 minutes, having won those initial kicking battles.

They would eventually cross the whitewash for the first time after 24 minutes when Evans latched onto Rhys Patchell's grubber kick following strong carries from the Scarlets pack. It might have been more, but an error-strewn first-half stopped any chance of that.

Towards the end, the South African outfit edged their way back into proceedings as the Scarlets' discipline issues reared their ugly head.

On the half-hour, the Cheetahs got on the board through fly-half Siya Masuku after the home side infringed at the breakdown.

Worse was to follow just before the break when Carwyn Tuipulotu was sent to the sin-bin after accidentally taking out Siba Qoma in the air after the Cheetahs flanker had jumper into the No. 8 to claim a lineout. There was little Tuipulotu could do about the incident, but given how dramatically Qoma flipped in the air, it might easily have been a red card.

So, the second-half began with the Scarlets in a depressingly familiar position of being a man down and they were helpless to stop