Having suffered another ignominious home defeat, this time at the hands of Heineken Cup finalists Munster, there is little doubt that Llanelli Scarlets will be glad to see the back of this traumatic season.

Unprecedented failure in the Heineken Cup, the disappointment of missing out on a place in the latter stages of the EDF Energy Cup and a modest return in the Magners League, were problems compounded by Dwayne Peel’s decision to join Sale and this week’s untimely, and somewhat messy, departure of coaching director Phil Davies.

Less than halfway through his planned four-year spell with the region, Davies was inexplicably dismissed on Tuesday afternoon as the Scarlets board reacted to an alleged lack of dressing-room support for the former Llanelli No 8. To say the least, it was an unsavoury start to a week, which, not surprisingly, ended in defeat at the hands of a Munster side who have no such problems.

To make matters worse for the Scarlets, this defeat could hardly have been more painful. Leading 23-16 with the game in stoppage time, the Scarlets suffered further heartbreak when replacement Paul Warwick nipped in for a try at the corner and then converted a penalty from a metre inside his own half with the final kick of the game.

It had taken Munster less than six minutes to take the lead — No 8 Nathan Thomas turned over possession on the visitors’ 22 and watched in disbelief as wing Ian Dowling raced 60 metres to touch down for a try.

A Stephen Jones penalty two minutes later gave the home crowd something to shout about and after David Wallace had been yellow-carded for an off-the-ball tackle, the Scarlets made hay with two tries in three minutes. Dafydd James, who has seen the good and bad times at Stradey Park, popped in for the first try after excellent handling on the right and shortly after opposite wing Matthew Watkins stepped inside four paper-thin tackles for his side’s second.

When Wallace knocked on in the act of scoring a minute before the interval, the Scarlets fancied that their poor luck had changed. It enabled them to go in at half-time 20-5 to the good and with Munster relying on a second-half wind to blow them back into this game.

Ronan O’Gara provided further confirmation of the wind strength when he had little trouble in achieving the distance from a 45-metre penalty. Unfortunately, for the Ireland fly-half that is, his aim was awry.

His aim and distance were spot on two minutes later as Munster closed the gap to 12 points and, with 54 minutes on the clock, replacement Federico Pucciarello sent in Dowling for his second try — O’Gara again missing the conversion. Jones showed his opposite number the way with a penalty on the hour.

Although Warwick crossed in the corner in the final minute of stoppage time, his conversion struck an upright and bounced back infield. It appeared as though the Scarlets had ridden their luck and come away unscathed. Not a chance. With the final kick of the game and with replacement lock Lou Reed heading for the sin-bin, Warwick converted a penalty from a metre inside his own half to break Scarlets’ hearts — again.

Star man: Dafydd Jones (Llanelli Scarlets)

Llanelli Scarlets: M Stoddart; D James, G Evans, N Brew (D Daniel 61), M Watkins; S Jones (capt, R Priestland 80min), G Cattle (L Davies 61min); I Thomas (P John 66min), M Rees (M Schwalger 63min), D Manu, V Cooper, S Macleod (L Reed 70min), D Jones, N Thomas (J Bater 60min), G Thomas

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett (B Carney 62min), L Mafi, R Tipoki (P Stringer 51min), I Dowling; R O’Gara (P Warwick 62min), T O’Leary; M Horan (F Pucciarello 36min, M Horan 74min), J Flannery (F Sheehan 50min), J Hayes, D O’Callaghan (M O’Driscoll 62min), P O’Connell (capt), A Quinlan, D Leamy (D Ryan 51min), D Wallace

Yellow cards: Llanelli Scarlets: Reed (80min) Munster: Wallace (24min)