Scarlets vs Edinburgh

From planetrugby.co.uk:

"Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley has made just one change to the side that upset champions Munster last week for Friday's clash away to with Scarlets. Prop Shaun Knight, who is on loan from Gloucester, comes into the front-row as a straight swap for Lewis Niven, who begins the match on the bench. Two other changes have been made to the bench with Robin Hilsop and Hamish Watson supplanted by Jack Gilding as a front-row replacement and the experience back-row Alan MacDonald, who returns to the fold for the first time since May, having completed his return from injury with a run-out for Heriot's last weekend.

"Beating Munster was great and the manner in which we played was very rewarding, keeping the pace of the game up and producing two fantastic tries," said Bradley. "We also defended exceptionally well and showed a lot of physicality in attack which gave us space going forward; something we've been bringing into our game and is a key element of our plans going forward. It's very important that we continue that form and that approach away against Scarlets this weekend."

Edinburgh travel to Llanelli in search of their first win on the road this season, while their hosts seek to bring a close to a four match losing streak.

"Scarlets are somewhat hamstrung by their commitment to Wales, with the majority of their backline in New Zealand, so it's a good opportunity for us to perform well and go for an away win which would be very important to us and our season," added Bradley.

Meanwhile, with a number of players picking up injuries in the past few weeks, Scarlets had a series of late fitness tests on Thursday. Making the race back from injury to the field are Andy Fenby on the wing, Dan Evans at full-back as well as Dominic Day and Aaron Shingler in the second row. Fly-halfAled Thomas has retained his place at number 10 after a strong performance against Treviso last weekend. Having impressed at training so far this season the talented 19-year-old Rhodri Williams gets his first start at scrum-half whilst Rhodri Gomer Davies returns following an illness last week. Those unavailable for selection include current skipper Iestyn Thomas, prop (calf strain), Nick Reynolds, wing/centre (ankle), Lou Reed, second row (knee), Josh Turnbull, back row (shoulder).

The region has been boosted by the news that Wales and Scarlets captain Matthew Rees has returned to his first week of training and conditioning after his recent neck operation and is making excellent progress. He is expected to return to action at the end of this month. Returning internationals from World Cup Duty for the Scarlets will include Fiji captain Deacon Manu (Prop), Scottish flyer Sean Lamont (wing/centre) and new signing Tongan second row giant Sione Timani. Manu has picked up a shoulder knock so will not return for a fortnight with Sean Lamont being rest for another week.

"We've had a short turnaround for this game, it's been a very focused week for us and despite the squad being stretched with injuries and bumps," said Scarlets Defence Coach Simon Easterby. "We know that we've got to improve our position in the league, but there's been no dent in confidence here, its been more about getting the best out of our performance and if we get that right the results will come."

Form: Scarlets have slipped to four straight defeats in the RaboDirect PRO12, whilst they have not lost five in a row in the tournament since season 2007/08. The WestWalians have won their last four encounters with Scottish opponents. Edinburgh's last four matches have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Edinburgh's only away win in the tournament since December 2009 came at Aironi, 10-9, on 2 October 2010. Scarlets won both encounters last season, whilst Edinburgh have not won at Parc y Scarlets since 4 December 2009.

The teams:

Scarlets: 15 Dan Newton, 14 Lee Williams, 13 Rhodri Gomer Davies, 12 Gareth Maule (capt), 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Ben Morgan. 7 Richie Pugh, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Aaron Shingler 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Emyr Phillips, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Peter Edwards, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Adam Warren, 23 Liam Williams.

Edinburgh: 15 Jim Thompson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Matt Scott, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Gregor Hunter, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Shaun Knight, 2 Steven Lawrie, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Lewis Niven, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Alan MacDonald, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Tom Brown.


Date: Friday 7 October
Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 19.05 BST (18.05 GMT)
Referee: Dudley Phillips ((IRFU) "

3 players on development contracts in the starting XV for Embra (4, 10 & 13) - an impressive backing of youth

Looking forward to this match. The Scarlets are really in need of a result now, as they have been somewhat off colour (looking more like Blues than Scarlets ) recently with injuries and players out at the RWC. Hopefully with a few of the players starting to return over the coming weeks the lads selected will feel the pressure and try to keep their shirts.

Yep Scarlets desperately need our internationals back. hopefully in a couple of weeks though...

Considering how well this Edinburgh team played against Munster I'm hoping we can consolidate that performance with a win against the Scarlets.

It will be tough but if our Backrow can provide good quick ball I would expect this backline to score more tries.

Rugger - not meaning to sound mean but hopefully your poor form away will prevail (and not our poor form full stop).

Edinburgh have had a real mixed start to the season imo:
1. A home humping by the Cardiff Blues - expected
2. An LBP away at the Os - decent
3. A home win vs Connacht - OK
4. An LBP away at Aironi - not good enough
5. A complete demolotion of then leaders Munster - unexpected

Where do they go now?

Edinburgh will have their international players returning to the squad soon, meaning that the current line up have less and less time to prove that they deserve the jersey and that last week's result was not a one off. They have to take this opportunity to show some consistency.

Scarlets face a similar situation except 1) it will be longer before their internationals return from NZ, and 2) their run of form has been worse than Edinburghs.

So both teams under pressure to perform tonight, should be a good game

Manky-Flanker wrote:Edinburgh will have their international players returning to the squad soon, meaning that the current line up have less and less time to prove that they deserve the jersey and that last week's result was not a one off. They have to take this opportunity to show some consistency.

Scarlets face a similar situation except 1) it will be longer before their internationals return from NZ, and 2) their run of form has been worse than Edinburghs.

So both teams under pressure to perform tonight, should be a good game

Manky, Not until the back end of October apparently?

Manky - the Scarlets also have the LV= coming up for the next two weeks, which will most likely mean a bit of a rest for the key players in the pack, and a bit more time for the fresh faced back line to gel. I believe that Sione Timani is meant to join up with the squad on Monday, Lamont is meant to rejoin them on Monday week, and Matthew Rees has started trining again and will most likely return when we begin the Rabo again at the end of the month. So for a few of the Scarlets lads this will be a last chance to try and prove they are worthy of a place too.

I wish i shared your optimism for the pressure on the two sets of players meaning it will be a good game. I have a horrible feeling that it may work the other way and both sides will be keen to shut things down and try to play damage limitations, and prove themselves as good closers down of games instead.

I can't believe Rees has recovered so much and is expected back so soon.

I think having Lamont, Timani and Manu back in a few weeks will make a massive difference - as long as we can keep Maule, Fenby, Lee Williams and Tipuna fit - then that backline will have a decent amount of experience (just still worried about the flyhalf position).

Will be a hard game - gutted I'm too skint and busy to go down, but I should be there next week and hopefully the week after at the Blues.

Asbo, yes but thats effectively the next game after tonight's game.

SS, you may well be right, but I'm hoping that some players on both sides are going to go all out to stake a claim on a jersey they know will otherwise be given to a returning player. A do or die attitude.

Looking forward to it.

Manky - to be honest I'm just hoping for a Scarlets win no matter what, secondary is hoping the forwards pull their finger out of their proverbial and the backs start clicking.

A very exciting group of young players in that Edinburgh side. Lee Jones, Matt Scott, Gregor Hunter in the backs, and Gilchrist, Denton and McInally in the forwards.

Edinburgh just need to find some consistency, and play each game with the intensity and tempo that they played the last. If King and Scott and gel then it should give Robinson some food for thought.

It will be interesting to see if the Scots coming home early benefits Edinburgh or Glasgow.

I hope for Scotlands sake those youngsters are as good as you say as Scottish rugby needs some help from somewhere, and you've certainly got no money to spend...

Perversly I do think that the national team are very close to being very good.

The ones that worry me the most are the Italians having their players returning, after all we are only 1pt above Aironi, and Treviso are doing pretty well. Given that both have had decent starts to the tournament already (Aironi are doing better than last season already), the return of their internationals may well cause more problems for the Welsh and Irish sides.

Yep, you can't take the Italians lightly. Both their teams beat Glasgow and Edinburgh round about the same time Scotland got cuffed at the RWC - Not a great time to be a Scottish rugby fan

I said before teh season started that even though I don't expect the Italians to make the play off I would expect them to have a fair had in deciding who makes it and who doesn't.

None of the Scottish internationals, even the ones who saw little or no game time are involved this weekend. Not sure about the Italians but would be very surprised if they are using their internationals.

With so much Rugby still to play rushing players back for one League game would be very short sighted.

Would that be the "fair hand" of Ghiraldini?

Not holding out much hope on that halfback pairing. Rhodri Williams has looked awful every time I've seen him and how Nige has picked him over Tipuna is a mystery. Is Gomer-Davies really the best on offer during the WC?

Hi guys, looking forward to some club action after the craziness of the world cup and such a distressing time as a Scotland fan!

Been keeping up to date with the goings on while I was in NZ - good to see the young guys in Edinburgh have acquitted themselves well so far!

Got to be aiming for a win against an under strength Scarlets.

'Mon the Burgh!

nooooo it's raining!!!

there goes any chance of a really good running match. boo.

Ymlaen Scarlets!! Please, please win!!

four 21 year olds in the Edinburgh pack (and a 20 year old) and a couple of guys under 20 in the backs....great experience for these guys!

Very similar to the Scarlets then RDW! although I confess we do have older forwards....


awful Scarlets centre partnership on display, hope Warren can have a good game, huge ask for him though, he was only playing for Llandovery last week.

Awful start from our young stand off!

Going to be a horrendous game by the look of things!

very lucky try there for the Scarlets from an awful kick charged down (or just kicked into a Scarlet player??)

Think Warren was lucky to be given the benefit of the doubt with that grounding, looked more like he knocked it on over the line to me!

Still, 10-0 to Scarlets, good start. We really, really need a win here.

In fact - awful start from the entire Edinburgh team!

Well if you need a win we seem to be obliging!

Aled Thomas kicking well so far for us, first time he's had kicking duties.

13-0

So annoyd maule is injurd.refs gettin in the way a bit

A thomas is place kickin well but has missd touch a few times

ref has a funny interpretation of the breakdown for poor sides, hope we're clever enough to adapt our play.

13-3 now. Apparently Maule's injury is not too serious, just a tweaked ankle thankfully. Would have loved to see him playing today though.

Surely there was a knock on there?

aaaaaah boo Edinburgh try, nice finish by Visser there really.

13-10

Home crowd booing every decision might get a bit grating after a while.

you learn to tune it out RDW, tis what I do. It's only ever a small pocket but coz the ground is never full, they always seem to sound v loud

nice round of applause for the injured Edinburgh player, hope his knee isn't too badly hurt.

How Kyle Traynor every got Scotland caps is beyond me!

Lookd a nasty injury,hope hes ok

Real shame - he has added a lot of grit and aggression to what is a fairly docile Edinburgh pack!

Hope it isn't too bad

Scarlets injury update-lee williams suspected broken jaw

awwww no gutted for him, he's one of my fave players.

This is so much better from the Scarlets though 18-10 and Edinburgh down to 14 men. Not sure if that was the right call by the ref.

Shame about that,was good phase play.hope we win this scrum

Shame about that,was good phase play.hope we win this scrum

lee jones!

Wow - great try Lee Jones!

Might be up for try of the season that one!

Great individual effort.

Edinburgh have been baws but game on.

Poor tackling by rhodri - good finish by jones. 23-17

33-17, glad we got the next points, was really worried we were going to let Edinburgh back in it.

TBP as well, well chuffed with that, just 5 mins to go.

Edinburgh really need the international front row back soon!

Pretty awful performance from Edinburgh - much improved Scarlets too.

It's been the best we've played all season RDW I have to say. Edinburgh have still been dangerous though, but that yellow really cost them, lots of promising players coming through though

happy with the win, really pleased with the tbp, didnt expect that