After winning their last four games in a row, including two strong performances in the LV=Cup against Leeds at home and away at London Irish last weekend, the Scarlets will be looking to maintain their forward momentum.
The Scarlets have now won eight of their 11 matches this season with five home victories and three away wins – results that have given the coaching set-up at Parc Y Scarlets something positive to work with ahead of a big challenge out in Munster this weekend.
Without their internationals Stephen Jones, Matthew Rees and the new Wales wing star George North, the Scarlets field a strong team with the return of some of their strike players in the backline including Morgan Stoddart on the wing, former All Black centre Regan King and in-form outside half Rhys Priestland. International scrum-half Tavis Knoyle is released by Wales for game time with his region and travels to Munster with a place on the bench.
And after some strong performances by the Scarlets’ new breed in the LV=Cup, 23-year old Wales Commonwealth Sevens player Aaron Shingler gets a starting place in the back row along with Peter Edwards in the front row and young Ben Morgan who once again takes the No8 jersey – with David Lyons not passing his late fitness test for this fixture.
Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies knows his side faces a big task, saying: “We know it’s going to be a difficult place to go, they’ve had a massive result this week beating Australia, but this will be no bigger game than last week and we came through that against a strong London Irish side.
“They’ll bring huge intensity, they fight on every inch of the field and they will look to disrupt our game. They will be hard and very physical and we will have to match them and front up, in order to be competitive in this game.”
Scarlets: Daniel Evans, Morgan Stoddart, Gareth Maule, Regan King, Lee Williams, Rhys Priestland, Martin Roberts, Iestyn Thomas, Ken Owens, Peter Edwards, Lou Reed, Dominic Day, Aaron Shingler, Johnathan Edwards (capt), Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Emyr Phillips, Phil John, Simon Gardner, Damian Welch, Jonny Fa’amatuainu, Tavis Knoyle, Dan Newton, Scott Williams.
