Preview: Scarlets v Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Blues have named a strong line-up for Saturday's LV= Cup clash with the Scarlets considering their Six Nations commitments.
Cardiff Blues have named a strong line-up for Saturday's LV= Cup clash with the Scarlets considering their Six Nations commitments.
David Young's outfit travel to Parc y Scarlets knowing that they must equal what Harlequins do at home against Gloucester if they are to reach the semi-final of the Anglo-Welsh competition, with the boss certainly eager to progress.
“The win against Newcastle last weekend certainly puts us in a position where we can kick on and achieve something,” said the Director of Rugby.
“Looking back at the second round match against London Irish we were probably dead and buried.
“The Scarlets did us a bit of a favour beating Wasps, and we recorded a bonus-point win, but I'm sure the Scarlets aren't going to do us any favours this week.
“They will want to win as well, I think they need at least a point to qualify, which is very difficult to plan for so they will be going for the win.
“The rivalry is very strong between the two teams so it should be a great match.”
The Blues head into the game on the back of a 45-24 victory over the Falcons in which several players gave their best performances of the season. And Young admits he was impressed with the effort put in by a mixture of youth and experience.
“Ahead of the Newcastle game I stated that we needed a lot of the players to step up and they certainly did,” he continued.
“A lot of the youngsters who hadn't had game time gave us that energy and desire and the old heads stood up and led the way.
“It was good to see Maama Molitika back and Sam Norton-Knight had a good game at full-back. Scott Morgan and Paul Tito lead the pack well.
“It was a good win although one disappointing factor was the way Newcastle scored so easily from driving line outs.
“We worked at it this week at hopefully we have put it right.”
Meanwhile, scrum-half Martin Roberts who joined Wales this week is released back to his region by Warren Gatland to join-up with a largely unchanged Scarlets side that won away against a strong Wasps line-up last weekend.
Nigel Davies brings back David Lyons (captain) and Ken Owens after resting them last week. Morgan Stoddart has a groin injury and will be out for four weeks. Other Scarlets on the long-term injury list include senior internationals Simon Easterby, Dafydd Jones and captain Mark Jones.
Saturday's derby match sees the long-awaited return of Scarlets star centre Regan King who makes his first start on Saturday after nearly a year out from injury – a welcome boost to the rugby region and its supporters.
With the Blues and Scarlets both top of their respective pools, a hotly contested match is guaranteed as the Welsh rivals look to seal semi-final qualification and a home draw in the knock out stages.
“The way we are approaching this is very much like a quarter-final, if we can win this game, it puts us in a strong position for a home semi-final,” said Nigel Davies.
“It is win at all costs – going into the Wasps game we said we still needed two wins in the last two games – this game is no different, the focus is on getting a result.
“The Blues have everything to play for too, we all want to win this competition particularly with both of us not having great Magners League form. The rivalry between these two regions will mean it will be a great game.
“The LV=Cup competition has been good for us because the quality of our group has risen this season because of the exposure that a lot of our younger players have had over the past 18 months.
“They are performing very well as we saw in first stage and last week in the and this adds competition and depth to the squad. The gap is much closer between those deemed as our first team players and the rest of the squad, which adds competition and a spark in training.”
Davies added recent form had been a boost to the Scarlets squad: “It is great, it has been a long time coming putting four wins in a row together and also the fact that three of them have been away from home is a huge achievement by this group of players.
“As I've said before, the investment we've made in these players is starting to come through and as they have shown in the last four games, they are a capable bunch. We still have a long way to go but in general terms we are moving forward well.
“I know our Scarlets supporters appreciate what these guys are doing and it would be really nice to see a crowd come here and show their appreciation of these boys – it would be massive for them to get that support.”
The teams:
Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Lee Williams, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Regan King 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 David Lyons (capt), 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Iestyn Thomas, 17 Emyr Phillips, 18 Rhys Thomas, 19 Vernon Cooper, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Daniel Newton 23 Joe Ajuwa.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Gareth Thomas, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Tom Shanklin, 11 Dafydd James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito (capt), 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Gary Powell, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Rhys James, 17 Scott Andrews, 18 Ian George, 19 Scott Morgan, 20 Andries Pretorius, 21 Tom Slater, 22 Sam Norton-Knight, 23 Chris Czekaj.
Date: Saturday , February 6
Kick-off: 15:00
Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Referee: Greg Garner (England)