Lions stars return for the Scarlets
British Lions duo Stephen Jones and Matthew Rees return to the Scarlets squad this weekend, as the region faces Brive this Saturday in the final round of its pool six games in the Heineken Cup.
Star flyhalf Jones will start at No.10, with hooker Matthew Rees on the Scarlets bench. Prop Rhys Thomas also returns from injury to get a place in the 23 and 27-year-old lock Damian Welch who impressed the Scarlets coaching set-up last weekend, gets his first start for the region in a Heineken Cup game.
With only two sides having secured qualification for the next stages so far, there is still plenty to play for in Europe, but the Scarlets say they are just focused on getting an away win and with it the chance of finishing second in their group.
Head Coach Nigel Davies said: “There are so many permutations as to how and if we can qualify – we just have to focus on what we can control which is getting a result in Brive on Saturday.
“I was delighted with last weekend’s result and the way that a lot of our younger players stuck at the cause and finished as the stronger team. It was a huge achievement for them and the team and obviously put us in a reasonably good position going into this final round.
“This is a very big game for us against Brive, we have remained very focused and positive this week building on the platform from Sunday and the players are just looking at securing a win.”
On the return of some experienced Scarlets players to the field, Davies said: “It’is great to have some of our senior guys back – having experience is very important particularly away from home in Europe. Having said that the younger boys who played on Sunday will have gained a lot from that win and comeback; they know now that they can stay in games and by being determined you can come through and win.
“I was very impressed with the way our bench went on Sunday – it’s that quality we need to impact games and all three of the forwards who came on made an impact.
“Damian Welch has been working hard, he’s a great athlete and can be very quick and as a line-out forward he was very effective last weekend.”
And returning Scarlets star Matthew Rees said the team were not taking anything for granted and were prepared for a typically physical French test.
“The result last weekend proves what we can do as a squad and puts us in good stead for this weekend. But we know its going to be tough, a physical challenge out there.
“Brive have got some good players, so it’s been important that we’ve prepared well and chuck everything at them and the boys are really up for the challenge.”
England flyhalf Andy Goode is back in the Brive lineup after a horrific run of injuries and will have another fit-again star, Riki Flutey, just outside of him this weekend.
The teams:
Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Régis Bianco, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 8 Steve Thompson, 7 Fabien Domingo, 6 Alix Popham (captain), 5 Retief Uys, 4 Thibault Dubarry, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 2 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 1 Pablo Henn.
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Ribes, 17 Davit Kinchagishvili, 18 Christian Short, 19 Simon Azoulai, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Alexis Palisson, 23 Pascal Idieder.
Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Andrew Fenby, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 David Lyons, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Damian Welch, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhys Thomas, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Jon Edwards, 21 Lee Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Gareth Maule.
Date: Saturday, January 23
Time: 19:00 (18:00 GMT)
Venue: Stade Municipal
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Barry O’Keeffe (Ireland)
TMO: Tom Redmond (Ireland)
