Llanelli produced a high-octane second-half performance to overhaul Bath at the Millennium Stadium and book a place in next month's Powergen Cup final against Wasps.

It will be the third time this season Llanelli will have faced the Guinness Premiership champions - they were drawn together in the same Heineken Cup group and won a game apiece.

A Llanelli-Wasps final at Twickenham is the ideal scenario for the organisers of this new-look competition, which pitches the 12 Premiership clubs with the four Welsh regions.

And if the final is anything like as exciting as this game - in which the lead changed five times and was not settled until Chris Malone's drop goal attempt with the final kick fell short - it will be a cracker.

Llanelli had trailed 16-7 at the interval after Bath centre Alex Crockett scored a superb solo try and Chris Malone had booted 11 first-half points for Bath.

A fourth Malone penalty and an excellent try from Joe Maddock extended that lead - but Llanelli hit back strongly.

Bath struggled to deal with their pace and precision as Regan King and Mark Jones added to Craig Dunlea's first-half try while fly-half Mike Hercus finished with a personal haul of 12 points.

Bath lock Danny Grewcock faces a nervous wait for the citing commissioner's report after he appeared to stamp on Hercus.

Scottish referee Malcolm Changleng missed the second-half incident - but it was picked up by the television cameras and any suspension would render Grewcock unavailable for England's RBS 6 Nations clash with France in Paris next Sunday.

England coach Andy Robinson is already sweating over the fitness of prop Matt Stevens, who dropped out of the Bath side after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.

Llanelli were controversially denied the services of scrum-half star Dwayne Peel, with Wales caretaker coach Scott Johnson exercising his right to rest him just seven days before their Six Nations appointment with Italy.

Clive Stuart-Smith was handed the tough task of taking over from Peel, but four Llanelli players on duty against Ireland last weekend - Jones, Matthew Watkins, Dafydd James and Barry Davies - all started.

And Llanelli began at a furious pace and enjoyed initial territorial dominance before Malone opened the scoring for Bath with a 48-metre penalty.

But the Scarlets kept the pressure on and went ahead after 14 minutes when excellent approach work from the forwards enabled prop Dunlea to crash over for a try that Hercus converted.

The scoring action continued at a rapid pace as Malone's second penalty cut the deficit to 7-6, but errors began creeping in on both sides until Bath produced a flash of individual brilliance through Crockett.

Bath's former Llanelli wing Salesi Finau appeared to receive a forward pass, but Scottish referee Changleng waved play on and Crockett weaved his way along the touchline before kicking ahead and winning the touchdown race.

Malone's conversion hoisted Bath 16-7 ahead at the interval and although Hercus responded in kind three minutes into the second-half, Maddock's try seemed to have put the Premiership side in the box seat.

Nick Walshe, described in the week by his boss Brian Ashton as the Premiership's form scrum-half since Christmas, burst into the Llanelli 22 with a sniping run around the fringes.

Bath moved the ball wide quickly and after Lee Mears, the England hooker had made ground, Finau slipped a perfect reverse ball back inside from the touch-line for Maddock to score.

But far from kill off Llanelli, the try only seemed to inspire them to hit back harder and stronger. Welsh international pair Jones and Watkins were central to a slick attacking move that sent King over for Llanelli's second try in the corner.

Hercus landed an excellent conversion and there was no respite to the game's breakneck pace as the Scarlets, back within a try, kept the pressure on.

Bath winger Andy Higgins was sin-binned for deliberate offside after 55 minutes and Llanelli took full advantage. Jones angled his run through the Bath defence and held off Crockett's desperate last-ditch tackle to touch down under the posts.

Hercus' simple conversion booted Llanelli into a brief 24-23 lead - brief because two minutes later Malone landed his fourth penalty from the half-way line.

But Hercus was snatched the lead back again for Llanelli eight minutes from time.

Hearts were in Scarlet mouths when Malone lined up a last minute drop-goal attempt - but it fell short and Llanelli meet Wasps in the final.