The Scarlets are the only Welsh region in action at the weekend as they play their rearranged RaboDirect PRO12 tie with third-placed Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday night.
The Irish outfit have lost just twice on home soil in the league over the past two seasons and the Scarlets haven’t won in Northern Ireland since September 2008 but recent victories over Munster, Edinburgh and Treviso, plus European wins on the road at Harlequins and Racing Metro, mean there is no shortage of confidence this time around.
“We’ve gone to places this season where we’ve not been expected to get a result but we’ve performed, thrown everything at teams and come away with some pretty positive results,” said Easterby.
“Going to Ulster is exciting: it’s a really good challenge for this group of players. I feel that this group have taken a bit of a step forward in the past few weeks and we go to Ulster with more excitement than trepidation.
“The mood in the camp has been good. We’ve been a bit inconsistent this season, certainly in our league form, but in the last three games we’ve had three victories. To pick up 13 out of a possible 15 points has been a real boost to the group. The players are full of confidence, especially after the result and performance against Munster.”
The Scarlets currently sit sixth in the PRO12 standings, 10 points behind the fourth-placed Ospreys and a further four adrift of Ulster.
But, while there is no doubt that the Scarlets face an uphill battle to reach the semi-finals for a second season running, their 18-13 triumph over Munster earlier this month proved that they can mix it with the very best and that a place in the final four is not yet beyond them.
And with four home fixtures in their last five games after trips to Ulster and Glasgow, a surprise victory on Friday would really see them head into the end-of-season run in with a spring in their step.
“There’s nothing better than beating the league leaders. It gives us confidence going to Ulster who are playing really well and have a very impressive record at Ravenhill,” added Easterby.
“We felt that we’d done our homework on Munster and we should have beaten them away from home as well so there was a bit of extra motivation there. We played in the right areas and we pressurised Munster, something that other sides had failed to do when we were looking at them, and that gave us a good return. We missed a few chances but, in the end, some good attack backed up by some scramble D meant it was a good all-round performance.
“We have to get something out of every game, there’s still 35 points up for grabs. We’re going to have to work really hard to get into that top four but we’ve got a good run-in with four home games. If we can take points from the next two away games we’ll certainly be well placed to challenge the top four.”
