Fly-half Shaun Connor claimed 15 points as Neath moved to the top of the Welsh Premiership table with a comfortable victory over understrength Llanelli at The Gnoll.

The Welsh All Blacks move level on points with unbeaten Bridgend, but boast a superior try count from their seven matches.

Neath were in charge for long periods but were unable to turn all their pressure into points in a low-key encounter, littered by errors and the whistle of referee Gareth Simmonds.

Both sides went into the game severely affected by a combination of international call-ups, injury and unavailability.

A total of 19 players were absent from the Scarlet ranks, while Neath too were not without their problems - club captain Gareth Llewellyn, hooker Barry Williams and flanker Brett Sinkinson among a host of home absentees.

Nevertheless, there were still 14 internationals on show in a fixture that is rarely short on incident

The Welsh All Blacks beat the Scarlets 29-13 in the Celtic League in September and they showed a strong intent early on to claim a second scalp of the league champions.

Neath bossed the early exchanges and went ahead through a penalty by Connor on six minutes.

They had to wait until 20 minutes to register the game's opening try however, with flanker Steve Tandy bursting through for a fine individual score, converted by Connor.

Llanelli responded with some promising solo runs from centre Tal Selley and makeshift fly-half Neil Boobyer, but their finishing let down at key moments and Neath were able to cope without too much threat to their line.

The visitors had No.8 Dave Hodges sin-binned on the stroke of half-time, making their task even tougher.

And the mountain became higher 10 minutes after the break when Connor scampered over for a second Neath try, adding a conversion and a penalty moments later.

Llanelli hit back with a try from scrum-half Rob Walters, but Neath had the final word when wing Shane Williams claimed an injury-time score following a touchline scamper.