The Scarlets have announced their side to face Connacht tomorrow in the Guinness Pro14, Friday 29 September with the kick-off at 7:35pm.
In total, five changes have been made to the side that defeated Edinburgh last weekend with a bonus point win at Parc Y Scarlets. With Ken Owens once again to lead the home side out as captain.
Gareth Davies, Samson Lee and John Barclay are all unavailable as they follow return to play protocols after suffering head knocks last weekend head coach Wayne Pivac confirmed. Hadleigh Parkes has been rested for the match. However fellow centre Scott Williams returns to the starting XI along with scrum-half Aled Davies.
In the pack, try scorer last Saturday tighthead prop Werner Kruger, replaces Welsh international Samson Lee in the front row. David Bulbring and Tadhg Beirne swap places in the second row whilst Josh Macleod takes over from John Barclay at number eight.
Australian utility back Paul Asquith is the only player on the replacements bench from the last outing.
Speaking about the upcoming battle, Pivac said; “It was important last week to get back to those winning ways and to get a bonus point against a tricky opponent. It wasn’t the prettiest performance but the boys did well to get the bonus point.
“Connacht is our biggest focus. What we don’t want to do is take an eye off the ball and drop four or five points this week. First thing’s first is Connacht and making sure we get the performance right and that we improve in the areas that we need to from the Edinburgh experience.”
“This group of players now they want to win every week and so it’s a different mentality and focus. It’s come with time. When you have a season like we did last year, that’s what the players do the hard work for. To see the joy in the changing room each week it builds an atmosphere in the group and they understand that each game is very important.”
Scarlets team V Connacht:
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Johnny Mcnicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens ©, 3 Werner Kruger, 4 Jake Ball, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Will Boyde, 8 Josh Macleod
Replacements; Emyr Phillips, Dylan Evans, Simon Gardiner, Tadhg Beirne, Lewis Rawlins, Jonathan Evans, Paul Asquith, Tom Prydie
