The Scarlets will host the Emirates Lions tonight @ 20h35 in Galway. The Emirates Lions will target a second win, however, a Scarlets side littered with several test stars will ask a lot more questions from the tourists than Zebre did.
Last Friday’s fixture in Parma was the perfect launchpad for the Lions as they not only got the win first-up but also found out how challenging it can be to keep European teams down as Zebre fought back gallantly. Panic notably set in but the Lions avoided disaster and deserved their 38-26 win.
The Scarlets are a significantly stronger side than the lowly Italians and won’t gift the Lions such a head start. They also showed in their 26-22 away loss to Edinburgh that their fight matches their class as they stayed in touch and threatened an upset right up to the end.
It’ll serve the Emirates Lions well to target the rucks where the Welshmen were lackadaisical, both in terms of ball protection and clearing from the base, which Edinburgh exploited brilliantly to snatch a turnover and score through Darcy Graham.
Emirates Lions head coach, Ivan 'Cash' van Rooyen believes his unchanged team have confidence going into tomorrow's game after a winning start to their campaign last week.
"We appreciate that Scarlets will pose a different challenge for us, but we are confident the players selected will once more aim for a positive result tomorrow."
"The team has prepared well in the lead-up to tomorrow, with a few productive planning sessions on and off the training field.
"Last week we spoke about momentum and that's what we would like maintain from here onwards," concluded van Rooyen.
New signing WillGriff John will make his first start in the United Rugby Championship after being named in a Scarlets side showing four changes.
The tight-head prop arrived in West Wales from Sale Sharks in the summer and swaps places with Wales international Samson Lee, who is named among the replacements.
Following last weekend’s narrow loss to Edinburgh, there are two changes behind the scrum with Tom Rogers coming in for Ryan Conbeer on the right wing and Sam Costelow getting the nod over Dan Jones at fly-half.
Scott Williams and Jon Davies, who combined impressively in the Scottish capital, continue their midfield partnership with Davies again captaining the side.
Up front, John packs down alongside Rob Evans and Ryan Elias, while there is an all-new second row pairing of Jac and Tom Price. Aaron Shingler and Sam Lousi are both ruled out through injury.
The back-row of Blade Thomson, Dan Davis and Sione Kalamafoni is retained.
On the bench, Shaun Evans – a late addition to the squad in Edinburgh – is included as back-row cover, while Morgan Jones comes in to provide cover at lock.
Ioan Nicholas will make his 50th appearance in a Scarlets jersey if he comes onto the field.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel: “We are very excited. We have scouted the Lions through the Currie Cup and we took a lot from last week’s game versus Zebre. They were very impressive in the first half and punished Zebre every opportunity they got. The fact the four big South African franchises are in the URC is great for the league and we are looking forward to the challenge on Friday.”
Prediction: Scarlets by 6
Emirates Lions: 15. EW Viljoen, 14. Jamba Ulengo, 13. Wandisile Simelane, 12. Burger Odendaal (c), 11. Rabz Maxwane, 10. Jordan Hendrikse, 9. Andre Warner, 8. Francke Horn, 7. Vincent Tshituka, 6. Jaco Kriel, 5. Pieter Jansen Van Vuren, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 3. Carlu Sadie, 2. Jaco Visagie, 1. Ruan Dreyer. Replacements: 16. PJ Botha, 17. Sti Sithole, 18. Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19. Reinhard Nothnagel, 20. Sibusiso Sangweni, 21. Morne van den Berg, 22. Eddie Fouche, 23. Divan Rossouw.
Scarlets: 15. Johnny McNicholl, 14. Tom Rogers, 13. Jonathan Davies (c), 12. Scott Williams, 11. Steff Evans, 10. Sam Costelow, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8. Sione Kalamafoni, 7. Dan Davis, 6. Blade Thomson, 5. Tom Price, 4. Jac Price, 3. WillGriff John, 2. Ryan Elias, 1. Rob Evans. Replacements: 16. Marc Jones, 17. Phil Price, 18. Samson Lee, 19. Morgan Jones, 20. Shaun Evans, 21. Dane Blacker, 22. Dan Jones, 23. Ioan Nicholas.