The young Scarlets side came out on top 18-10 in Monday night’s re-arranged fixture at the Talbot Athletic Ground following the postponement of the game the previous day. The RGC 1404 contingent in the home side certainly made their presence felt and there was a try for centre Tom Hughes and eight points from the boot of outside half Jacob Botica.
They are both retained for the trip to Cornwall, along with scrum half Alex Schwarz. Welsh international Tom Prydie comes in at full back and Tom Rogers shifts to the wing.
Changes up front see Taylor Davies, Joe Powell and Lewis Ellis-Jones come in up front. Shaun Evans takes over the captaincy from Tom Phillips.
Three teams have all secured two wins to date, Cornish Pirates, Scarlets and Ulster A, and the Pirates top the table on points difference. Hartpury bring up the rear having lost all three opening rounds.
“Winning at home in this competition is critical and it was important that we got the win earlier in the week. Pirates had won first two rounds, so that made it almost a cup game this early in the competition,” said Scarlets head coach Euros Evans.
“We will go down on Sunday with a little bit of confidence and see if we can pick something up on the road. It’s been a good start and it was really pleasing to get the victory at Aberavon.
“We forget sometimes how young these boys are, yet they showed plenty of maturity and we controlled the last few phases of the game. Some of these young boys are definitely putting their hands-up and pushing the senior players within the region.”
The Ospreys had the first game of their double-header against Nottingham postponed last weekend and will have home advantage this weekend at The Gnoll (Saturday, 2.30pm kick-off). Wales Under 20 skipper Will Jones once again leads the side.
“We were obviously disappointed not to play last weekend after training hard, but hopefully we’ll make up for it on Saturday. It’s going to be a tough test for us,” said Ospreys head coach Tom Smith.
“We’ll be looking to build on the performances in the first two rounds against Munster and Bedford. In both games we put in really good first half performances, then some of our mistakes allowed the opposition to pull away from us.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve had to make a few changes to our squad due to some nasty injuries to both academy and senior players. That has affected selection, however, a fair proportion of our team had really good exposure in the Anglo Welsh competition and I hope they take that experience into these next two games.
“It’s exciting to test ourselves against a Championship side. Nottingham are doing well this season in the Championship and I’m sure they’re looking to continue that form in this competition.”
New South African recruit Jarryd Sage will get his first start in Dragons colours when he plays for the Premiership Select XV against Yorkshire Carnegie at the Centre for Sporting Excellence, Ystrad Mynach on Saturday (2.30pm kick-off).
The 22-year-old joined from the Southern Kings and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Dylan, in making the grade as a professional player. Dylan was a bronze medal winner with the South African sevens team at the 2016 Olympic Games.
His grandfather, Doug Hopwood, appeared at Rodney Parade for the Springboks in their 3-0 win over Newport on 11 January, 1961. He joins Connor Edwards in the midfield for a game in which the Dragons will be seeking pay-back for their 43-22 defeat last weekend.
Dorian Jones switches from outside half to full back to allow Angus O’Brien to join Owain Leonard at half-back. The front row has one change made with Keagan Bale coming in on the tight-head side. Lennon Greggains once again leads the side from a back row that includes fellow Wales Under 18 cap Taine Basham and the more experienced Robson Blake.
Justin Burnell will be seeking a reaction from his side after they shipped 12 tries in a record 70-12 defeat against Doncaster Knights last weekend when they host the English Championship side at Pontypridd’s Sardis Road (Saturday, 2.30pm kick-off).
Lewis Jones will lead the side and is one of seven changes to the starting line-up. Fellow senior Blues players Sion Bennett, Ethan Lewis and Welsh international prop Dillon Lewis come into the team, while Wales Under 18 centre Ben Thomas gets a start as does Merthyr try-machine Kyle Evans on the wing.
Callum Bradbury comes in for Josh Hawkins at lock, Bennett takes over at No 8 and Blues academy members Alun Lawrence, Iestyn Harris and Dafydd Smith are named amongst the replacements.
British & Irish Cup Teams
Scarlets PS XV: Tom Prydie; Tom Rogers, Ioan Nicholas, Tom Hughes, Ryan Conbeer; Jacob Botica, Alex Schwarz; Rhys Fawcett, Taylor Davies, Javan Sebastian, Chris Long, Joe Powell, Lewis Ellis-Jones, Dan Davis, Shaun Evans (captain)
Reps: Dafydd Hughes, Steffan Thomas, Scott Jenkins, Bryce Morgan, Gareth George, Jack Maynard, Billy McBryde
Dragons PS XV: Dorian Jones; Barney Nightingale, Jarryd Sage, Connor Edwards, Rio Dyer; Angus O’Brien, Owain Leonard; Phil Price, Ellis Shipp, Keagan Bale, Henri Williams, Josh Skinner, Lennon Greggains (captain), Taine Basham, Robson Blake
Reps: Will Griffiths, Josh Reynolds, Garin Harris, Scott Matthews, Chay Smith, Callum Morris, Toby Fricker
Cardiff Blues PS XV: Patric Lewis; Kyle Evans, Harri Millard, Ben Thomas, Corey Howells; Ben Jones, Lewis Jones (captain); Rhys Carre, Ethan Lewis, Dillon Lewis, Callum Bradbury, Ben Murphy, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Sion Edwards, Sion Bennett
Reps: Iestyn Harris, Huw Owen, Louis Jones, Owain Lloyd, Alun Lawrence, Jamie Hill, Dafydd Smith
Ospreys PS XV: Cai Evans; Andrew Claypole, Joe Thomas, Rhys Williams, Jay Baker; Luke Price, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Rowan Jenkins, Ifan Phillips, Alex Jeffries, James Ratti, Matthew Dodd, Joe Tomalin-Reeves, Will Jones (captain), Morgan Morris
Reps: Hugh Gustafson, Mitchell Walsh, Jack Pope, Jay Williams, Harri Morgan, Callum Carson, Joe Gatt
