Can the Scarlets Castres side their inhibitions...

...and put it to the Frenchmen?

Nice play on words Glas, good effort.

Is the game at Parc y?

I'm hoping they're going to mix up the tactics this weekend, a bit more of the forward orientated tactics and then cut loose if and when they get dominance up front..................................well I can hope anyway.


Good news is that Rhys has been passed fit and could well be on the bench.

P.S. SUFTUM.

Glas a du wrote:P.S. SUFTUM.

which means?

it is indeed at Parc y Scarlets, Pete.

Turkster wrote:

Glas a du wrote:P.S. SUFTUM.

which means?

Stand Up For The Ulster Men

I think Scarlets could put them to the sword at home.

Aren't Castres doing quite well at the moment though?

It all depends on what mind set our forwards turn up in to be honest (as usual). With the likes of Foxy and Georgie starting though, we've definitely got a chance. The difference Georgie made when he came on against the O's was amazing.

Plus, it'll be his first Heineken Cup start if he's picked. Amazing!

yeah, pretty amazing that he's played more times for Wales than the Scarlets.

Glas a du wrote:P.S. SUFTUM.

I'm loving your style man.

I do think you have the beating of Castres. There are only really the two good travelling French teams - Toulouse and ASM. The remainder are unpredictable but beatable.

Just like the Scarlets then

Great news about Priestland being fit - hopefully the team will look something like this
I.Thomas, Rees, R.Thomas
Timani/Day/Welch (any combination of them)
McCusker, Turnbull (if he's back otherwise Shingler who showed up well against the O's)
Morgan
Knoyle
Priestland/Jones
Lamont
Davies, Williams
North
Fenby

It's not a bad side just hope we can turn it on and Castres travel poorly, as a good win (like we had last year against Perpignan) should give us confidence and momentum for the following games, and then who knows...

Very fortunate for the Scarlets that they have Castres up first at home.

Castres have a strong pack but are known for having a poor European record. They generally focus their efforts in the Top 14.

If Scarlets can lay a fatal blow it's likely that Castres will throw in the towel.

Though saying that the Castres pack could well destroy the Scarlets one.

Our pack has been improving quite a bit, but I suppose there is always a risk. Fingers crossed we can 'land a fatal blow' as you say, but I think I'd much rathered have played them after Munster had played them, as they may have been even more disheartened and more likely to throw the towel in.

True smirnoff but you wouldn't want to play Castres at their place first match up.

Just throw caution to the wind and you'll be fine. Play to your strength which is your backline. If it turns into an arm wrestle it wouldn't be surprising if Castres prevail as they do have a big pack.

You have an excellent backline so use it well. You'll certainly need Priestland to be fit to do this.

Yeah I meant play Castres at PyS but after Castres had played Munster, so hopefully they might have already had 1 loss before meeting us and as a result may have lost interest in the comp.

U r right though they do have a big pack and we're best when playing loose and allowing our backs space to run.

smirnoffpriest I think Castres will try for the next 2-3 games. If they are in a good position they will be continue. If not they will throw in the towel.

It's essentially luck of the draw.

Very fortunate for the Scarlets that they have Castres up first at home.

Don't Castres-persions!

groan

Need some Castres sugar to sweeten the pill?

omg it's like a tommy cooper routine - don't worry about the sugar I'll Castres around for something better...

Don't do too much of that or you'll need Casters oil for the chafing.

I hope Rhys Thomas doesn't swap his roller skates for Castres.

Which Chanel is it on? Who are the Broad Castres?

This is when I need a facepalm smiley - to bad they castres it aside

The turks don't want to get off to a castresophobic start in the HC...

the scarlets are going to unleash a castresalysmic amount of North on the French!

I'll pick the Scarlets to win it, could be a repeat of the Perpignan game at Parc-Y. The 'West is Best' mob should have all their best available players back. The backline being the strength but their forwards need to hit Castres hard to give them the go-forward momentum. They can do it.

Perpignan are Basques aren't they, a bit Spanish, playing the Castres-nets?

This will obviously be a game of Castresnomic proportions with the loser having their qualification for the Quarter Finals castred into doubt.

I hope the Scarlets don't get typecastred into playing their running game, but approach it with an open mind, dominate up front before castre-ing aside their inhibitions.

That's a Castres iron certainty, possibly.

I just hope that the Scarlets pull no punches and manage to castresate the french!

This is possibly the worst thread I have ever read but I wouldn't want to castre spersions on the OP

Depends on how the Scarlets can interrupt the Castres system of play... however unfair it may appear.

Linebreaker wrote:Depends on how the Scarlets can interrupt the Castres system of play... however unfair it may appear.

I hope you didn't mean dropping small Frenchmen from a great height Breaker?

Rava wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Depends on how the Scarlets can interrupt the Castres system of play... however unfair it may appear.

I hope you didn't mean dropping small Frenchmen from a great height Breaker?

No, but that might work Rava.

Is this match is being web-Castres?

I'm trying to castres my mind back to see if I can remember a thread as bad as this ...

Scarlets team to face Castres 12th November 2011, Parc y Scarlets kick off 3pm:

15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 3 Rhys Thomas, 4 Dominic Day, 5 Damian Welch 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 Ben Morgan.

Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Richie Pugh, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Daniel Evans.

Rob McCusker (sprained foot) and Keiran Murphy (calf strain) have been been ruled out through injury.


okay two main reactions to this; Rob Gog injured - argh!! Liam Williams at full back?!?

I know he can play there, but for his first HEC start, at 19, not in his favoured position....blimey!

Liam looks a confident player, I'm sure he will do fine. Although in a must win game I would have started with Priestland and Dan Evans at 10 and 15.

I'd have been tempted to do that as well Morgannwg, but it will be nice to have Rhys to come on in the 2nd half. I doubt he's fully match fit so that might be the best thing for him

Losing Rob is a big blow though especially against such a physical team like Castres. Big games needed from Ben, Jedwards and Aaron. Jedwards is going to have to watch what penalties he gives away too.

Nerves have kicked in big time for this one!!

rugbydreamer wrote: Liam Williams at full back?!?

I know he can play there, but for his first HEC start, at 19, not in his favoured position....blimey!

he played fullback for Wales under-20's recently, I'd say it is his favoured position. No way were they going to start Rhys and Dan Evans seems to have blown his chance after a mare against the O's.

I would have preferred Lamont at 15 and Liam at 11/14 if Priestland wasn't fully fit, but in an ideal world having Priestland at 15 would have been good.
I like Shingler but worry about him in the big games as he's not the biggest player - real shame that we have Turnbull, McGog, Stodds, G Davies & Maule out.

Knoyle is going to have to have a good game as I wouldn't be at all confident with Rhodri coming on against Castres
Whats happened to Manu anyway, I didn't hear that he was injured, does this mean he hasn't come back to us after the WC?

Manu's injured, not sure how bad, but he didn't play in the last couple of games for Fiji in the RWC.

He's definitely back, I saw him in the barn signing autographs before the Ulster match. Guess he's taking longer to recover then expected.

Ohh that's good news as he can definately help our youngsters and would be a shame to loose him - didn't realise he was injured and didn't go into the barn at the Ulster game (he is hard to miss though). Lets hope he's back soon

Castres are currently third in the Top 14 at present I think and whilst that doesn't happen accidentally, I think that it's fair to say that they have been terrible travellers in cup competitions in the past and have only come out of the Heiney group stages once (2002).

Quite annoyed that Max Evans isn't playing, from a one-eyed Jock point of view.

I hear they've got a big pack, but I haven't heard of too many of them before, maybe they benefited from the World Cup as they wouldn't have lost so many players. [/hopeful mode]