Scarlets outmuscled by French giants despite in-form Wales star's efforts

The Scarlets got outmuscled in France by Top 14 high-flyers Castres as the west Walians began their Challenge Cup campaign with a 34-16 defeat.

Dwayne Peel's side competed throughout but could not match the power of the French side who outscored the Welsh club by five tries to one. There were some positive individual performances as Ioan Lloyd continued his impressive start to the season by kicking all 16 points, while both Ben Williams and Teddy Leatherbarrow showed up well.

If the Scarlets had a functioning set-piece this game would have been a lot closer with the visiting lineout farcical at times, and forward coach Albert van den Berg will need to fix this area if they are to compete in what is a tough Challenge Cup pool.

The Scarlets made the worst possible start when wing Steff Evans received a yellow card after a mere 95 seconds for deliberately slapping the ball forward. Castres went to the corner with wing Josaia Raisuqe powering over from short-range.

Louis le Brun added the extras but the Scarlets ground their way back into the game with two penalties from outside-half Ioan Lloyd. But the hosts always looked the more dangerous side, and were attempting to run the ball from anywhere.

One more than one occasion Castres broke clear from deep, with some wonderful offloading in the process, but the final pass didn't stick. The Scarlets' scramble defence was very good, with one excellent try saving tackle from industrious blindside Ben Williams just metres from his own line, but Kieran Hardy was forced to kill the ball to prevent what would have been an almost certain try.

Hardy was sent to the sin bin for his act which resulted in his opposite number, Jeremy Fernandez, taking the penalty quickly to score. But the