The Vodacom Bulls showed plenty of guts to cut down a 20-point deficit but ultimately had to settle for a brave defeat against Scarlets in Llanelli last night.

After initially going 7-3 ahead in the opening five minutes, the Vodacom Bulls were on the receiving end of one-way traffic as Scarlets dotted down three times in succession to open up a 27-7 lead.

Stravino Jacobs dotted down for the visitors towards the end of the first half and the Vodacom Bulls were able to take that momentum into the second period as scores from Cyle Brink and Francois Klopper made it a three-point game.

However, Scarlets landed the killer blow when, after David Kriel was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle, Johnny McNicholl scored the decisive try with five minutes to go to see the hosts come away with a 37-28 victory.