Pro12: Scarlets v Munster (Sat)

Pro12: Scarlets v Munster
Date: Saturday, 3 September Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Coverage: Live commentary online & BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app; highlights later online and Scrum V on Sunday

Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell will be one of three players making their Scarlets debut in their Pro12 opener against Munster.

Signed from Cardiff Blues, Patchell makes his bow alongside South African prop Werner Kruger and 19-year-old number eight Josh Macleod.

Wales centre Jonathan Davies, who has rejoined Scarlets from Clermont Auvergne, is on the bench.

Munster academy centre Dan Goggin makes his first start for the visitors.

Full-back Simon Zebo and flanker Tommy O'Donnell are among the Ireland internationals in the Munster team.

They will face a Scarlets backline strengthened by the presence of Wales full-back Liam Williams, centre Scott Williams and scrum-half Gareth Davies.

"The challenge for our forwards is to make sure we supply them with enough front foot ball to show their skills," said head coach Wayne Pivac.

"I don't think we're the finished article by any means. There are still positions that we'll look to bolster.

"You work within budgets and it's a time and place when certain players become available and this time around it was a few backs."

Pivac's side finished sixth last season and will be Wales' sole representatives in the European Champions Cup.

Munster beat Scarlets on the final weekend of the regular season in May although the Welsh side had won 25-22 at Parc y Scarlets earlier in the season.

"Munster bring a lot of physicality," Pivac added.

"We played them in the last game of the season last year so it's very fresh in our minds.

"They will attack us around the fringes. We've got to try to match fire with fire when it comes to what they're going to throw at us.

"If we can match them up front and get some parity then we'll be halfway there to nullify them hopefully."

Scarlets won their first six Pro12 games of the 2015-16 season when many of their players were away at the Rugby World Cup.

Pivac wants a similar start to the new campaign in order to build momentum and excitement amongst the supporters.

"Last year we got on a bit of a roll and a lot of big names weren't there," Pivac said.

"If we can get on a roll with the big names then that's going to help and hopefully we can grow that success week by week.

"It's a tough month with Munster and two away games in Edinburgh and Ulster and then the reigning champions, Connacht, at home.

"We need to be playing well in that first month."

Scarlets: Liam Williams; DTH van der Merwe, Scott Williams, Hadleigh Parkes, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Dylan Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Werner Kruger, Jake Ball, Lewis Rawlins, Aaron Shingler, John Barclay, Josh Macleod.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, David Bulbring, Tadhg Beirne, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Jonathan Davies.

Munster: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Duncan Williams; James Cronin, Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Dave Foley, Billy Holland (capt) Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Kevin O'Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Jean Kleyn, Donnacha Ryan, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Cian Bohane.

Referee: Lloyd Linton (SRU)

Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (SRU), Wayne Davies (WRU)

Citing commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)

TMO: Jim Yuille (SRU)

I must say, that is the best Scarlets side I have seen take the field in the Pro12 for quite some time. I hope foxy gets some game time tomorrow.

Cracking backline, but with the weather that's forecast, I'm not sure that's where the game will be decided. But there's quite a few names in the Munster pack that are unfamiliar to me, so I don't know how strong they are there.

LordDowlais wrote:I must say, that is the best Scarlets side I have seen take the field in the Pro12 for quite some time. I hope foxy gets some game time tomorrow.

Scarlets pack looks a bit lightweight to me, rookie loosehead, flanker in the second row and teenager at no 8! They can have the best backs in the world, but without the ball they will get nowhere.

Anyone know where Phil John is now, the Scarlets could do with his experience with Rob Evans injured?

I don't get Welsh teams' obsession with putting flankers at 2nd row... Scarlets have a South Afrcian S15 player on the bench who's a very physical lock so that selection is a bit odd. A lot of the Munster team is also unfamiliar to me, so going by names the Scarlets should get a comfortable win IMO. Wouldn't surprise me if they lost...

God this is one way traffic at the moment - Scarlets in total control

13 minutes gone Munster hardly out of their half - two lineouts for Munster both lost - defence looking good but you can't do that against the Scarlets for too long

True, but Munster will have their purple patch in this game and Scarlets haven't made it count on the scoreboard yet. Need to get that breakthrough soon.

See what I mean?

Well how are munster 7 -0 up?
Only had the ball for about 30 seconds

He's in my Fantasy Rugby team as well, get in!

So far my front row forwards have scored more tries than my backs

Thats classic Munster, get into the opposition 22 once and come away with 7 points.

Unbelieveable- Zebo off - first time Munster in posession - Try - forwards carrying very dinamic- fair play

24 Minutes in first scrum - pretty solid Scarlets

2 Oportunities 2 tries

Oh dear Scarlets, this is not a good start to your season.

Wow! Wonder try from Gareth Davies! Who needs the other 14

Good scrum Munster

wales606 wrote:Wow! Wonder try from Gareth Davies! Who needs the other 14

He's in my FantasyTeam as well

Munster looking really well organised so far -

Two score game now, less than fifteen minutes to go. Scarlets need to get some ball and produce something, quickly, or it'll be good night nurse.

great Munster defence so far fair play looking very hungry

Good start Munster plenty to build on but yup good start

Was very impressed with the Munster line speed in defence. Really gave the Scarlets no room. Job done

Scarlets will not win games against top sides if they can't get any go forward up front. Pack is too lightweight, they were constantly playing behind the gain line, badly need some ball carriers to put their hands up.

So yeah I was speaking to some Turks on here recently, and when I say speak I mean attacked for pointing out the blatantly obvious fact that their team is underperforming. Scarlets have this many internationals in their team and some token South Africans who are good players, they were playing in west is best land, Munster appeared to be shy of a few of their best players and Scarlets still manage to lose by 10 points. So I'll ask again as I never got a straight answer the other day - are you concerned or will you continue to bury your heads in the sand? 

And well done Munster, Irish show the Welsh how to do it again.

Lol, you weren't attacked, just put in your place Mikey. As I said comment and slag the Scarlets off by all means but your own region is in a far worse place. As for burying me head in the sand, I dont think so, as I said on another thread, I know my teams deficiencies and I live in hope more than expectation this season. Once again those deficiencies came to the fore once again, no ball carriers, slow service from Gareth Davies and a complete lack of game management to go with selecting both Rawlings and Shingler in the same pack! The biggest disappointment for me was that Munster didn't really have to get out of 2nd gear to get the win. We certainly need a new captain, Ken Owens is nowhere near the leader we need, any idiot can stand there with their hands on their hips shaking their head all the time! A few personnel changes in the pack and at 9 should help and Barclay given the captains armband!

Not a great start by Pratchell and G Davies slow getting the ball away. How did the Scarlets conceed that game but good defence by Munster and making the most of weak defence.

Well that was an embarrassing opening to your post Buzz. Maybe if you answered people's questions instead of trying (and failing) to win the Internet and dismiss people who speak the truth about your team then maybe you'd get on better with this forum. Your region harbours some of the most biased and delusional fans in Wales so the reaction to this loss will be interesting. 

You actually made some good points there but then lost all credibility when you talk about replacing your best player at 9. Unbelievable, and your answer would be to start with Aled Davies who is the worst 9 (besides Knoyle) in Wales.

Maybe if you watched the game instead of lurking on forums all day then maybe you'd have seen how slow Gareth Davies has been at clearing the ball from the base of the ruck, putting Patchell under pressure from the off, coupling this with our lack of ball carriers and munsters quick/offside defensive line resulted in us going side to side and killing any chance of building any attacking momentum. Gareth is a cracking broken field runner but is not a controlling 9. I'd give Jonathan Evans a start, looked ok when he came on. As for your opinion on Aled Davies I can't agree but I'm not surprised by it as I rarely see you post anything positive regarding Scarlets players.

Lurking on forums all day? Jeez wish I had time to do that... If I did have the time I'd probably do something else... But never mind it's pointless trying to explain reality to a Turk. So GD has been the best 9 in Wales for a few seasons and you want to drop him? Stupidest thing I've read from you and that takes some doing mind...and that's a shame because you make a good point again, about Jonny Evans this time. He's a good No.9 and he shouldn't have left us because he was developing into a scrum-half capable of playing for Wales. I expect him to surpass Aled this year and for him to disappear into obscurity like Knoyle before him. I praise Scarlets players if they deserve it but when playing for Scarlets it's rare that they deserve it.

Yes on,on today's perfomance, yes, I'd start him on bench and bring him on as an impact player, Gareth is a great highlight reel player, great breaks and good tries but as I've said, not a controlling type of 9 we need when we need field position and quick ball. Cracking try aside, he was poor today along with Scott Williams and Ken Owens. Anyway, if Aled Davies ever gets to be as bad a player as you say he is then maybe he'll end up at the Dragons?

I certainly hope not, I'd rather us try and get Evans back. I think those days of signing reject-Robin Sowden-Taylor types are behind us.

I hope so for the dragons sake! Good young players coming through but it takes time and money to build strong squads to intergrate promising youngsters into, time and money the regions don't have due to years of underfunding and poor running of the regions. With a bit of luck we can push on and turn a corner but I live in hope more than expectation...

Yep, tend to agree with that although there are still a lot of those players littered throughout the regions.

Liam Williams seemed to want to do everything himself. He made some gains in the first ten mins, but then Munster seemed to spot he wasn't going to pass/kick and from there on in they had us beat.

Nah, Davies (Aled) and Knoyle are the worst I've seen and what's worse is they've always been talked up like they're amazing. I think most people know Lyn's son is semi-pro standard. Sarel is a good player but needs to be utilised in open games rather than against teams with bigger forward packs.

I think Rhys Patchell needs to kick the ball more. He was keeping the ball in hand when there was nothing on. It would have been better for him to kick into space. A few chips/grubber kicks/up and unders would have been effective I think.

glamorganalun wrote:Not a great start by Pratchell and G Davies slow getting the ball away. How did the Scarlets conceed that game but good defence by Munster and making the most of weak defence.

There's no such player at the Scarlets.