Malone finds his feet in time to lead Quins turnaround

Scarlets 22-29 Harlequins

This evocative old ground has staged its final European match but as the curtain fell in Llanelli reality dawned for Scarlets. By the time they cross town on December 12 to play their first Heineken Cup match against Ulster in their £23m spanking new stadium, Parc y Scarlets, the club could be out of the competition.

Scarlets travel to Paris this weekend for a difficult game against Stade Français and, after a remarkable turnaround here in a game they contrived to lose after leading 19-3 at the interval, the waters in Pool Four look to be closing over their heads. It was a game of two halves and, well, a game of two halves. For the first 40 minutes Stephen Jones helped control the match for the Welsh while Chris Malone, an unsung Australian apparently keeping the No10 seat warm until Nick Evans returns from injury this month, had a shocker.

Malone was not alone. Quins, whose second string had come within two points of beating Ospreys in Swansea the previous weekend, looked like a third team as Scarlets ran rings around them from the opening minute when Morgan Stoddart cruised past Charlie Amesbury for their first try. Amesbury, a David Strettle lookalike who is standing in for the injured England wing, was again powerless as Mark Jones squeezed over for a try in the same corner 10 minutes later and the script appeared to have been written. The swankpots from Twickenham, who failed to win a game in the Heineken Cup last season, would be pulling out of Stradey Park on their luxury coach, howls of derision ringing in their ears.

John Kingston, the gruff Harlequins coach, had different ideas. "At half-time he gave us an absolute bollocking," said Malone, as he clutched a glass vase, his reward for being man of the match. "John smashed into us with some strong words. If Mike Brown hadn't have made a try-saving tackle just before half-time we might not have been able to turn the game around but we had mountains of experience on the bench and in the second half we did to them what they had done to us in the first."

Malone, who could hardly find the safety of the touchline in the first half, suddenly began to look like Phil Bennett. His kicks at goal cut into the Scarlets lead, Danny Care slipped over for an opportunist try from a tapped penalty and the colour began to drain from Scarlets' cheeks. Crucially their hooker Matthew Rees was sent to the sin-bin on the hour for a late tackle on the replacement hooker Tani Fuga. Fuga, Nick Easter and George Robson had come on five minutes earlier and all three galvanised the visitors' pack. By the time Malone hoisted a perfect kick towards the corner for his wing Ugo Monye to gather and blast over for the winning try the Scarlets were chasing shadows in the mellow autumn sunshine.

"The Heineken Cup passed us by last year," added Malone. "This year we have vowed we don't want to just get to the end of the pool stage having just made up the numbers. We have a strong squad and I want to be the first-choice No10." The All Black Evans may have a fight on his hands to wrest the No10 shirt from Malone.

Scarlets Stoddart; Daniel, King (Higgitt, 68), Evans, M Jones (C Thomas, 76); S Jones, Martens (Roberts, 62); I Thomas, Rees, Meeuws, Cooper (N Thomas, 74), Maling (MacLeod, 30), Easterby (capt), G Thomas, Lyons.

Tries Stoddart, M Jones. Pens S Jones 4.

Sin-bin Rees, 60.

Harlequins Brown; Amesbury, Tiesi (Taione, 64), Turner-Hall, Monye; Malone, Care (Gomarsall, 75); C Jones, Botha (Fuga, 55), Ross, Kohn (Robson, 55), Evans, Robshaw, Skinner (capt), Guest (Easter, 55).

Tries Care, Monye. Cons Malone 2. Pens Malone 5.

Referee C Berdos (France).

Attendance 8,236.