Preview: Scarlets v Leicester
Wales fly-half Stephen Jones returns to the Scarlets starting line-up for Saturday's crucial Heineken Cup clash with Leicester.
Wales fly-half Stephen Jones returns to the Scarlets starting line-up for Saturday's crucial Heineken Cup clash with Leicester.
Jones, who returns from injury to start for first time after being sidelined for over a month, has urged his Scarlets side to play smart rugby.
The Wales and Lions star believes the Scarlets cannot get wrapped up in the emotion of a classic Anglo-Welsh confrontation and drawn into a physical battle at Parc y Scarlets.
“The big challenge for us is to keep thinking,” Jones told the Western Mail.
“We cannot let our emotions get in the way of our game-plan.
“If we get into a physical and simplistic battle with Leicester, we are going to come off second best.”
Meanwhile, Scott Hamilton and Boris Stankovich return to the Leicester Tigers squad.
Hamilton, who has missed the last two fixtures after returning to New Zealand for his wedding, comes in at full-back after an ankle injury ruled out club captain Geordan Murphy.
Loosehead prop Stankovich is included among the replacements after recovering from a facial injury.
Louis Deacon, who was recalled to the England squad this week ahead of the Six Nations Championship, will captain the team in Murphy's absence.
The inclusion of Hamilton and Stankovich represents the only alteration to the squad since last Saturday's win over Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership.
“We're really disappointed that Geordan suffered an ankle injury last weekend because he was really coming into form and he is a big player for us, but Scott has played a lot of games for us at full-back and his return is very timely. It's good to get Boris back too,” said Director of rugby Richard Cockerill.
“Scarlets are top of the pool and they are second in the Magners League this season, and that says they are consistently pretty good. They have some very dangerous players and some good experience in their side.
“We are going quite well too. We have won our last two away games, against London Irish and Exeter, which are hard places to go, and we had a good win against Northampton who have been going well all season.”
The teams:
Scarlets: 15 Rhys Priestland, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Regan King, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 David Lyons, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 Vernon Cooper, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Simon Gardner, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements:16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Phil John, 19 Jonny Fa'amatuainu, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Richard Pugh, 22 Martin Roberts, 23 Gareth Maule,
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Matt Smith, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Craig Newby, 6 Thomas Waldrom, 5 George Skivington, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Steve Mafi, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Horacio Agulla,
Date: Saturday, January 15
Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Kick-off: 17:45 GMT
Referee: Alain Rolland