An extra Test to fill the Millennium Stadium coffers may have done wonders for the Welsh balance sheet but their regional teams will spend the next week working out the cost to their European hopes.
After entering the third Heineken weekend undefeated, all three regions now have problems of varying degrees with the Scarlets worst of the lot. After genuine hopes of reaching the knockout stage for the first time in five seasons, Nigel Davies's side now have to visit Limerick of all places and come away with at least a bonus point if they are to have a sniff.
After winning at Northampton and against Castres, the defeat by Munster clearly came as a big blow for a region previously riding the wave which has buoyed Welsh rugby since the World Cup. While Davies was reluctant to cite the previous weekend's Test against Australia as a disruptive influence that is what he did. "It was a game that we didn't want but we had to work around it," said the man who briefly coached the nation before Warren Gatland was signed up.
Of his Wales squad members, Davies said "the boys had been wonderful" which was perhaps going too far. He started scrum-half Tavis Knoyle from the bench, took the kicking duties away from Rhys Priestland after three misses in five attempts, the centres Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies would have needed satnav to find one another, and George North did not even make it to the start line, ruled out by a late fitness check on the dead leg inflicted by the Wallabies.
Of the Wales squad members only Liam Williams, moved from full-back to the wing to cover for North, showed any spark as the Scarlets started in a hurry with eight points – Aaron Shingler first to Williams' hack on – but then became bogged down as the rain and the surface at Parc y Scarlets both got heavier.
Stephen Jones, not part of the Australia preparations, came on to land one penalty and give proceedings a veneer of calm but it was fairly obvious who Davies was talking about when he bemoaned a lack of accuracy. "We were very confident but we weren't accurate enough," said the head coach. "This match was of Test-level intensity and you can't afford errors but there were too many in our game.
"We had a couple of chances in the first 20 minutes we weren't sharp enough at taking and we left eight points place-kicking-wise and you can't afford to do that against Munster." Davies went on to admit Thomond Park was a "tough place to go", especially with Munster regaining the taste for a competition they have won twice.
They also have their two totems, the captain, Paul O'Connell, and the fly-half Ronan O'Gara approaching something like their best. O'Gara said it was the "fear factor" returning to the Munster ranks after a season when it went awol. However, it was experience that won the day on Saturday.
In their victories over Northampton and Castres, Munster have had to rely on late drop kicks from O'Gara. Playing his 100th Heineken Cup match, the 34-year-old won the game with 12 points from five kicks and a neat change of direction which created the space down the right for Denis Hurley and Johne Murphy to conjure Niall Ronan's try.
Scarlets Newton (S Jones, 57); L Williams (Longi, 75), S Williams, J Davies, Lamont; Priestland, G Davies (Knoyle, 57); I Thomas (John, 62), Rees (capt; Owens, 63), R Thomas (Manu, 75), Timani (K Murphy, 62), Welch, Shingler (Edwards, 46), McCusker, Morgan.
Try Shingler Pens Priestland 2, S Jones
Munster Hurley; J Murphy, W Chambers (Barnes, 55), Mafi, Zebo; O'Gara, C Murray (O'Leary, 62); Du Preez (Horan, 75), Varley, Botha (Hayes, 76), Ryan (O'Callaghan, 55), P O'Connell (capt), P O'Mahony (Leamy, h-t), Ronan, Coughlan.
Try Ronan Pens O'Gara 4
Referee R Poite (France). Attendance 13,183.
