Bath 10 - 27 Llanelli
The strains of Sospan Fach sounded over the Recreation Ground long before the final whistle as Stephen Jones kicked Llanelli into the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup.
The Welsh fly-half had helped beat the European champions Leicester a fortnight previously with 24 points and he showed no mercy to listless Bath with eight penalties and a drop-goal.
The unassuming Jones dismissed his perfect display as just another day at the office but the way he was mobbed by the Scarlets fans who had made their second trip to Bath in 24 hours showed that there was nothing mundane about this performance.
"To say I'm delighted is an understatement," said the 24-year-old, who will aim to do the same against the Irish in Dublin next weekend. "It was pretty easy to keep my focus because everybody realised the importance of today's game; the victory over Leicester would have meant nothing if we had lost this match. We had a simple game plan and we kept to it."
Poor old Bath. Once as high as the swollen River Avon, they are fourth from bottom of the Premiership, have been knocked out of the Powergen Cup by their greatest rivals Bristol, and now humbled on their own turf by the Scarlets.
They were as damp and flat as the rag doll hanging from the posts for which the clubs used to play before a shiny cash-cow cup came along.
To add to their woes, Mike Tindall and Mike Catt suffered knee injuries that will worry the England manager Clive Woodward in the run-up to Saturday's Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield.
The Recreation Ground pitch had ceased to be just another tributary of the adjacent Avon by the time the referee Allan Lewis made his fourth inspection of the weekend at 9am yesterday.
Saturday's wash-out did not deter the hordes from making another trip across the Severn, with 16 coachloads leaving west Wales. The only person who did not make it back was Mark Jones, who had been suffering from a knee injury and was replaced on Llanelli's bench by Barry Davies.
The rain had abated to little more than a drizzle but this was still a day for the kickers, in particular Jones, who stroked over his first five penalties for a 15-0 half-time lead.
Llanelli picked up where they had left off against the Tigers, Scott Quinnell and Martyn Madden leading the charge and Jones punishing every Bath indiscretion. There were plenty to choose from, including Catt not rolling away from the tackle and Matt Perry failing to release the ball.
Catt's tactic of bombarding Garan Evans with high balls did not work, the full-back more than holding his own and returning the ball with interest. The diminutive Evans also produced the tackle of the half on Tindall when he dumped the centre into touch on one of Bath's rare attacks.
Bath's coach Jon Callard commented: "Mike Catt is the general on the field and he sees what is in front of him, but it's such a shame that he kicked so much ball away. Jones's kicking was immaculate and it frustrates and dis appoints me that we gave him so many opportunities to punish us."
With Iain Balshaw and Kevin Maggs criminally underused, it was left to Olly Barkley to give Bath their first points of the game when Quinnell tackled Tindall late with his shoulder.
The Bath lineout was a mess, with Andy Long living up to his name by throwing the ball to the back and straight into grateful Llanelli hands.
Callard's remedy was to send on Dan Lyle and Mark Regan for the second half but it made no difference as Jones edged his side further in front, after some stray hands in a ruck under the posts, and kicked his eighth penalty, with help from the post, when Catt was penalised for backchat.
Jones, moreover, added the final blow with a minute of normal time remaining, a perfectly struck drop-goal sending the Llanelli fans wild.
Now the Scarlets will be hoping for a home draw in the semi-final but they will not be allowed to use the Millennium stadium because of an agreement not to play there in the two weeks before football's FA Cup final. Cardiff's Ninian Park may await at the end of April but, on yesterday's display, the 1,600 fans who made this trip should not care where they have to travel.
Bath: Perry; Balshaw, Barkley, Tindall (Voyce, 54min), Maggs; Catt (capt), Williams (Cooper, 54); Barnes, Long (Regan, 40), Emms (Dorsey, 74), Borthwick, Grewcock, G Thomas, Gabey (Lyle, 40), N Thomas.
Try: Thomas. Con: Barkley. Pen: Barkley.
Llanelli: Evans (B Davies, 40); Proctor, Boobyer, Davies, Finau; Jones, Easterby; Madden, McBryde, Davies, Cooper, Wyatt, Hodges, Easterby, Quinnell (capt).
Pens: Jones 8. Drop-goal : Jones.
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland). Attendance : 8,200.