Scarlets will face La Rochelle on Welsh soil in the quarter-finals of Europe’s Champions Cup.
They seemed almost certain to be up against Toulon for a third time in this season’s tournament but Munster did Wayne Pivac’s men a huge favour by failing to apply the brake against Castres in Limerick.
If the Irish province hadn’t scored four tries for a bonus point during a 48-3 win at Thomond Park to top Pool Four they would have been hosting Champions Cup debut-makers La Rochelle.
But their confidence opened the door for Pool Five winners Scarlets to have a potentially easier tie against the team from the Atlantic coast of France.
Scarlets and Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies didn’t care who the west Walians faced, declaring: “We know we can do it.
“We thrive on these big teams coming here. It’s a big challenge for us but it’s a challenge we enjoy. Hopefully we can keep going.”
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac said: “We are just very, very happy to be in the quarters.
“We had set some goals as a team. We want to be in the play-offs to try and do well again in the PRO14, but the next frontier was always to crack the play-offs for the European Champions Cup, and the players were desperate to do that.
“After a slow start in rounds one and two, I think it has just been a fantastic effort to win all four, which is what we had to do.
“We will take a lot of heart out of last year’s PRO12 semi-final playing away from home and doing it under the circumstances we had to with 14 men for a large part of the game and then going to the final and playing well; there was also the Bath game last week and out in Toulon when we gave them a 18-point start and clawed it back.”
Scarlets will need to install extra seating at Parc y Scarlets to raise the capacity to the 15,000 stipulated by Champions Cup chiefs for a quarter-final.
The ground is only 130 seats below that figure but, if they can’t meet the requirement, Scarlets could be forced to switch venues, to Swansea’s Liberty Stadium or Cardiff City Stadium.
The 74,000 plus seat Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital, where Cardiff Blues faced Toulouse and Leicester at the knock-out stage in 2009, is unavailabe because it’s being used the same weekend as the Champions Cup quarter-finals for boxing’s world heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker.
Munster, who booked a record 17th European Cup quarter-final, host Toulon while top seeds Leinster face holders Saracens in Dublin and Clermont Auverge take on Racing 92 in an all-French tie on the weekend of March 30-April 1.
If Scarlets get through, they will be away to the winner of Leinster versus Saracens three weeks later with Munster or Toulon hosting Clermont or Racing in the other semi.
Cardiff Blues will be at Edinburgh in the quarter-finals of the second-tier Challenge Cup with Pau hosting Stade Francais, Connacht entertaining Gloucester and Newcastle at home to Brive.
If Blues progress they will cross the English Channel to face Pau or Stade while Connacht or Gloucester will have home advantage against Newcastle or Brive.
