Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies has said he has been encouraged by the way his side are building on performances as the Scarlets face another crucial fixture in their mission to climb the Magners League table to reach Heineken Cup qualification next season.
Munster are currently fifth in the table and will look for amwin to help them secure a spot in the play-offs. The Scarlets, on the other hand, need points to help them gain advantage, with a game in hand over the Cardiff Blues, in the battle for automatic qualification for Europe as one of the top three best placed Welsh regions.
And Scarlets have two Wales internationals back with the region as centre Jonathan Davies and hooker Ken Owens both return from Wales’ Six Nations training to start for the Scarlets tomorrow evening.
Rewarded for a shining performance against Ulster, young 19-year-old scrum half Tavis Knoyle keeps his starting place in a side that is largely unchanged from its last game on March 5th against Ulster.
And there will be plenty of the Scarlets’ up and coming talent on show again with 20-year-old full-back Dan Newton retaining his spot at full-back as well as powerful winger Joe Ajuwa (26, former clubs London Welsh, Richmond), who has been playing for Llandovery RFC – also starting once again for the Scarlets on Thursday night.
Damian Welch comes back in onto the bench following time-out from a planned operation on his ankle.
Scarlets Head Coach, Nigel Davies said: “We have two historically tough matches to face now away in Munster and Edinburgh. We are just focusing on these two games as the first stage in a very important run-in to the end of the season for us. If we can go away and get something out of these next two games, it will put in a relatively strong position moving forward.
“Munster may not have all their internationals but we know they are still very strong and they always capable of putting in those massive performances as they’ve shown in Europe.
“But we are looking forward to these next two games, we have a certain amount of belief and confidence that we can put in a couple of good performances. The boys know that is what we have to do and I was pleased with the way we went against a strong Ulster side. We believe there is an opportunity for us out there.
“We’re a team that is not at full strength because of our international commitments and injuries to some key senior players, but we do have a group of players they have had a lot of game time together and that puts us in a strong position.
“We need to build on our performances and if we continue like our last game we will get results. Our players are developing all the time, they realise there is some real competition for places now which is something the coaches want to create. We need to have two quality players in each position – we probably have that in four or five areas at the moment with the No9 shirt being one of them. Its great for us to have two quality players like Martin and Tavis in such a key position.”
Scarlets
15 Dan Newton, 14 Joe Ajuwa, 13 Regan King, 12 Jonathan Davies 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 Lou Reed, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 Richie Pugh 8 David Lyons (capt).
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Emyr Phillips, 18 Damian Welch 19 Rob McCusker, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Daniel Evans, 22 Gareth Maule
