A disappointingly flat performance saw Edinburgh fall to defeat in Llanelli on Thursday as Scarlets took the game by the scruff of its neck early on and never really loosed their grasp.
Interim head coach Nick Scrivener could take a modicum of solace from the fact that the capital club's aggression and effectiveness in the tackle and stability in the scrum increased as the match wore on, but this was a night where Edinburgh failed to impose themselves to the desired degree.
After three successive Magners League matches on the road, the men in the black and red at least have the consolation of returning to home turf next up when Cardiff Blues visit Murrayfield on Friday 4 March (kick-off 7.30pm).
Persistent rain pre-match led to a greasy surface in southern Wales, and it was Scarlets who found their feet the quickest. Gareth Davies had already caused alarm with a jinking run between defenders when Edinburgh conceded a penalty at the breakdown, giving Dan Newton an easy kick at goal for the first points of the night.
The Edinburgh scrum, an area of pronounced concern in recent times, was then put under huge pressure, Scarlets winning a succession of penalties in the vicinty of the visitors' line and taking the set-piece option to good effect.
This after No.8 Ben Morgan broke from the base to launch a move that saw Newton feed Davies for another run at the heart of the Edinburgh defence, the TMO ruling after many, many replays that Ben Cairns had, heroically, got a hand underneath the ball as the scrum-half sought to ground it.
A Scarlets score seemed inevitable in an opening quarter of almost constant threat, but Edinburgh held firm, winning a morale-boosting penalty of their own after yet another scrum as Scarlets were found guilty of holding on after the tackle.
Alas, this respite was brief. A compelling handling move, where the ball was kept alive through a string of impressive offloads, saw the Welsh advance at breakneck speed into the Edinburgh 22.
George North, the returning youngster, got himself into space out right and had enough momentum to batter through for the score. There was to be no conversion, meaning Scarlets' lead was eight points in the 25th minute.
Edinburgh had plenty more defending to do in the rest of the half, but the gaps in their line were fewer and their physicality in contact more pronounced. They got their first points of the night in the 35th minute after a booming Tim Visser kick downfield saw Scarlets dither deep in their own 22 before Visser's fellow wideman Joe Ajuwa was pulled up for not rolling away.
David Blair sized up what wasn't the easiest kick from left of centre, and sent the ball sailing between the sticks.
Unfortunately, the match reverted to type in the final minutes of the opening half, another period of intense Scarlets pressure resulting after Edinburgh were penalised for pushing in the lineout and the hosts established threatening field position on their right.
Things took a further negative turn for the Scots as right in the middle of this spell they lost Fraser McKenzie to the sin bin, the blindside yellow carded for a high tackle on North.
Scarlets again sought to ram home their advantage inthe scrum, but Edinburgh survived without further pre-interval concessions, thanks in no small part to a great Netani Talei tackle as the home side looked set to score again.
HALF-TIME: SCARLETS 8 EDINBURGH 3
Edinburgh knew that improvements were required across the board in the second half, and they resumed in brighter fashion. A penalty came their way a couple of minutes after the restart after Scarlets went off their feet, but captain Greig Laidlaw's 45m-effort didn't have the legs to make it over.
The Scots had a further chance to narrow the gap to two points shortly after, Scarlets being caught offside, but David Blair couldn't goal from the home team's 10m line. The stand-off's opposite number, Newton, showed him the way in 56 minutes, landing a kick from 26m range after Visser strayed offside.
The Scarlets pivot was not, however, quite so happy with his next shot, brought about by David Young, the Edinburgh tight-head, taking down a scrum.
In an attacking sense, Scrivener's side came more into things in the final quarter, without ever managing to lay siege to the Scarlets line. Frustratingly for the visiting coaches, Edinburgh were still conceding penalties at regular intervals, which certainly didn't help their efforts to establish continuity.
Scarlets: D Evans; G North, R King, S Williams, J Ajuwa; D Newton, G Davies; I Thomas (captain), R Lawrence, R Thomas, L Reed, D Welch, A Shingler, J Edwards, B Morgan.
Replacements: C Hawkins, R Jones, S Gardiner, V Cooper, R Pugh, M Roberts, O Williams, L Rees.
Edinburgh: 15 J Thompson; 14 L Jones, 13 B Cairns, 12 J King, 11 T Visser; 10 D Blair, 9 G Laidlaw (captain); 1 L Niven, 2 A Kelly, 3 D Young, 4 S MacLeod, 5 S Turnbull, 6 F McKenzie, 7 A MacDonald, 8 N Talei
Replacements: 16 A Walker, 17 K Traynor, 18 J Gilding, 19 E Lozada, 20 R Grant, 21 R Samson, 22 S Webster, 23 T Brown
Referee: D Phillips (IRFU)
