Scarlets v Newport Gwent Dragons 8th October 2016

Saturday 8th Oct, 19:35, live on S4C.

Scarlets were pointless after the first three rounds of the 2016/17 Guinness PRO12 campaign but have since reeled off successive victories, at home to Connacht and in Treviso.

The West Walians have lost their last two home games against fellow Welsh regions since they beat Dragons at Parc y Scarlets at the end of October 2015.

Newport Gwent Dragons have recorded just one victory in their last nine fixtures in all competitions: 11-6 at home to Zebre in round 2 of the Guinness PRO12.

Dragons have not beaten a fellow Welsh region on their own soil since visiting Cardiff on Boxing Day 2014.

Scarlets solitary defeat in their last 15 Championship encounters with Dragons was 16-23 at Rodney Parade in September 2013.

Dragons only victory on Scarlets soil since the two regions were formed in 2003 was 30-23 at the old Stradey Park in the PRO12 in September 2007.

Overall Guinness PRO12 head to head record:
Played 26, Scarlets won 21, Dragons won 5.

At Parc y Scarlets, 7.35pm. Live on S4C
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU, 30th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Davies, Chris Williams (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Aurwell Morgan (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

Read more at http://www.pro12rugby.com/preview/preview-scarlets-rugby-v-newport-gwent-dragons/#FmgaHx734kZHSe2J.99

SCARLETS: 15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens [c], 3 Samson Lee, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 Morgan Allen

DRAGONS: 15 Tom Prydie, 14 Pat Howard, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Charlie Davies; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Rhys Buckley, 3 Brok Harris, 4 Nick Crosswell, 5 Cory Hill, 6 Lewis Evans ©, 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Ed Jackson.

Replacements; Darran Harris, Thomas Davies, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Ollie Griffiths, Sarel Pretorius, Angus O’Brien, Sam Beard.

Eilyddion: Ryan Elias, Luke Garrett, Werner Kruger, Rynier Bernardo, John Barclay, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Steff Hughes

The Dragons haven't won in Llanelli since 2007. Is there any reason to think their fortunes will change this weekend?

One-word answers are okay, but feel free to elaborate!

I see our great leader has hinted at the possibility of a more Welsh outlook to the 23. I am not sure where he gets his logic that the derbies mean more to the Welsh lads, but then it does fit in with the Welsh is best way of thinking down there.

Presumably Scarlets are getting some good form back so I can only see a win for them. Their win in Treviso is nothing to be sniffed at and I think in particular the manner in which they won is to be commended. So three matches against some of the worst teams in the league, soon to be three wins - we'll all be hearing about brilliant Scarlets are next week and how all their boys are going to walk into the Wales team. That's Turks and chum V for you.

RiscaGame wrote:I see our great leader has hinted at the possibility of a more Welsh outlook to the 23. I am not sure where he gets his logic that the derbies mean more to the Welsh lads, but then it does fit in with the Welsh is best way of thinking down there.

The tradition of nonsensical section gimics has been passed on to Lyn's protégé.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Saturday 8th Oct, 19:35, live on S4C.

(I'll update this as the week goes on.)

The Dragons haven't won in Llanelli since 2007. Is there any reason to think their fortunes will change this weekend?

One-word answers are okay, but feel free to elaborate!

We're in for a right pasting.

To shreds you say ?

munkian wrote:To shreds you say  ?

I predict an heroic effort from the usual suspect alongside a total collapse from the rest. You can contain the Turks if you keep your shape but we are to btittle.

mikey_dragon wrote:So three matches against some of the worst teams in the league, soon to be three wins - we'll all be hearing about brilliant Scarlets are next week

Funny enough, that is more or less what I had been telling people about the Ospreys start to the season.

mikey_dragon wrote:Presumably Scarlets are getting some good form back so I can only see a win for them. Their win in Treviso is nothing to be sniffed at and I think in particular the manner in which they won is to be commended.

As for the Treviso match, the Scarlets were still pretty woeful in some pretty basic areas such as catching, passing and scrums. Yes we scored three tries, but DTH's try had numerous poor passes in the build up, and Steff Evs was a solo intercept effort. So I am far from thinking that the Scarlets are coming into form, or putting their issues behind them.

mikey_dragon wrote:we'll all be hearing about brilliant Scarlets are next week and how all their boys are going to walk into the Wales team. That's Turks and chum V for you.

And no doubt hearing how the Dragons are no side to take lightly, and how they are full of courage and heart, and how they are just unlucky to be in the habit of losing. But lets face it Scrum V is pretty much on a par with the fail.

I stopped watching Scrum V years ago - they gulf in quality in its format and analysis with BT sport is embarrassing.

Its just jobs for the boyos and some lardy valleys chavs treating it as a run down rugby club.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:So three matches against some of the worst teams in the league, soon to be three wins - we'll all be hearing about brilliant Scarlets are next week

Funny enough, that is more or less what I had been telling people about the Ospreys start to the season.  

mikey_dragon wrote:Presumably Scarlets are getting some good form back so I can only see a win for them. Their win in Treviso is nothing to be sniffed at and I think in particular the manner in which they won is to be commended.

As for the Treviso match, the Scarlets were still pretty woeful in some pretty basic areas such as catching, passing and scrums.  Yes we scored three tries, but DTH's try had numerous poor passes in the build up, and Steff Evs was a solo intercept effort.  So I am far from thinking that the Scarlets are coming into form, or putting their issues behind them.

mikey_dragon wrote:we'll all be hearing about brilliant Scarlets are next week and how all their boys are going to walk into the Wales team. That's Turks and chum V for you.

And no doubt hearing how the Dragons are no side to take lightly, and how they are full of courage and heart, and how they are just unlucky to be in the habit of losing.  But lets face it Scrum V is pretty much on a par with the fail.

That turned out to be true in Ospreys case, although the manner in which they are competing in and winning games is polar opposite to Scarlets. Ospreys are playing at a high enough intensity to compete with the best - Scarlets aren't and just seem to make a lot of basic errors.

It sounded as if they won a scrappy affair in slightly poor conditions, scoring three tries in the closing stages to win the game is pretty good. I'll take your word for it with regards to the skill levels - if it's not considered an emergency now then will it ever be?

Yeah I have to agree with your last statement, but at least the Dragons fans are pretty grounded on where they are, which again is polar opposite with followers of the Scarlets.

Meanwhile, Wales internationals Jonathan Davies and Jake Ball will be rested for Saturday's Pro 12 derby match against Newport Gwent Dragons.

Both are expected to start in the European matches, while Wales tight-head prop Samson Lee will face the Dragons after making his season debut in the 6-22 win over Treviso.

The victory in Italy was Scarlets' second of the season after three straight defeats in their opening matches.

Head coach Wayne Pivac said the win was crucial.

"After the slow start the Connacht and Treviso games were very important and we needed to get wins so now there's a clear focus on Dragons before we worry about Europe," he said.

"After three losses it was important to get three wins and that's what we've targeted to achieve against the Dragons."


Wonder if KJ responds by making another 10 changes? If Dragons hope to win then making less errors than the clumsy Scarlets is a good place to start.

Tombola selections all over again.

Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Besties

Unless he finds 'Lewis' difficult to pronounce, we shouldn't have the same thing happening this Saturday.

Do the Turks have their names on their backs ?

Maybe that's why Kingsley wanted a Welsh captain? He really is a shrewd operator. All these rotations are also really going to help out soon, when everybody else is flagging at the business end of the season and we are all fresh and thrashing these tired teams for fun. I am sorry I doubted him ever.

I notice he hasn't mentioned the plan of blowing teams away in the first 30 minutes for a while...

Some BS coming out of the NGD camp in the Argus.

Shaun Connor has said that our young backs need to use this fixture to press for international places.

But we aren't using our best forwards....


I swear our backs have gone 'backwards', the white line fever last game was embarrassing.

He does seem to be all about the last thirty at the moment. Relying on our bigger players like Luc and GR Jones to really make the difference.

Sam Beard was good against Glasgow, at least he straightened the line now and again. But some of our attacking in the first half was so lateral it wasn't funny.

Of course, Sam Beard won't be playing on Saturday.

I loved the bit where we kept running into each other

That's actually a really clever move - it confuses defenders. A lot of teams try it, but their players aren't as good as ours so they miss each other.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:That's actually a really clever move - it confuses defenders. A lot of teams try it, but their players aren't as good as ours so they miss each other.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Home win.

PhilBB wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Home win.

Equal pen count, but one/two away yellow cards too?

Chris Kirwan wrote:There's nothing like a derby win but sadly they are few and far between for the Dragons. They were whitewashed in the Guinness Pro12 last season and haven't beaten a Welsh side in the league since that famous win in the Cardiff rain on Boxing Day, 2014.

Since their inception in 2003 they have won just FOUR of 40 away league games against Welsh rivals (in Llanelli in 2007, Cardiff in 2003 and 2014, in Swansea in 2010).

That means they will be big underdogs when they take to the turf at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday evening but a shock success would be a welcome boost for their long-suffering supporters.

It's also imperative that they send the odd shot across the bows of their rivals to the west while we pray for the sort of investment that would make derby delight a more regular occurrence.

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/14783460.CHRIS_KIRWAN__Ring_fencing_and_January_split_a_deadly_combo_for_the_Premiership___Dragons_desperately_need_derby_delight/

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Ben is from the other side of the Loughor Bridge so as a "Jack" don't expect him to do the Scarlets any favours, the opposite is more likely.

Seagultaf wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Ben is from the other side of the Loughor Bridge so as a "Jack" don't expect him to do the Scarlets any favours, the opposite is more likely.

Is your one Turkish eye in your backside? Have a look at how often Whitehouse has refereed an away win.

Any team news bois ?

Midday, I assume.

Bit late innit ?

No, that's standard I think. Midday Thursday for Friday games, midday Friday for Saturday games.

15 Tom Prydie, 14 Pat Howard, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Charlie Davies; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Rhys Buckley, 3 Brok Harris, 4 Nick Crosswell, 5 Cory Hill, 6 Lewis Evans (c), 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Ed Jackson.

Replacements; Darran Harris, Thomas Davies, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Ollie Griffiths, Sarel Pretorius, Angus O’Brien, Sam Beard.

Tom Prydie's just come back from injury, was an unused substitute against Glasgow, and now he's starting. Your guess is as good as mine.

Scarlets:

15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens [c], 3 Samson Lee, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 Morgan Allen

Eilyddion: Ryan Elias, Luke Garrett, Werner Kruger, Rynier Bernardo, John Barclay, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Steff Hughes

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Scarlets:

15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens [c], 3 Samson Lee, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 Morgan Allen

Eilyddion: Ryan Elias, Luke Garrett, Werner Kruger, Rynier Bernardo, John Barclay, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Steff Hughes

Looks weak

Only the six changes to the team this time.

Glad Charlie is starting but we need Landman - pack is too lightweight, even for the Turks.

Its not a bad backline - hopefully Hewitt will be back soon.

Heard Price is back playing this weekend too.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Only the six changes to the team this time.

Kingsley - maybe he's just messing around as he knows there's pretty much no chance of him losing his job.

I heard Landman's been carrying a knock.

Scrum half is the right call, they should be that way around anyway, and I'm glad TRT isn't playing.

Seems a bit harsh to have put Tyler Morgan up for interview in midweek, only to leave him out of the squad!

munkian wrote:Glad Charlie is starting but we need Landman - pack is too lightweight, even for the Turks.

Its not a bad backline - hopefully Hewitt will be back soon.

Heard Price is back playing this weekend too.

...and in what way would this boost us?

I thought he did Ok 15/16 to be fair.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I heard Landman's been carrying a knock.

Scrum half is the right call, they should be that way around anyway, and I'm glad TRT isn't playing.

Seems a bit harsh to have put Tyler Morgan up for interview in midweek, only to leave him out of the squad!

I think we should always start with Davies and bring Pretorious on if things open up.

We just don't have the forward pack for Pretorious - it's no coincidence that he has a stormer when we have the edge up front - that's more often than not been the case in the challenge cup.

He's a bit headless chicken at times though, he has little patience to truck it up the field.

Stone Motif wrote:

Seagultaf wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Ben is from the other side of the Loughor Bridge so as a "Jack" don't expect him to do the Scarlets any favours, the opposite is more likely.

Is your one Turkish eye in your backside? Have a look at how often Whitehouse has refereed an away win.

If you are suggesting that a "Jack" ref is going to show bias towards the "Turks" then you really have a persecution complex!

And as far as away performances are concerned, when was the last time you saw a ref not influenced by a partisan home crowd, the fact is they are all homers?

Seagultaf wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Seagultaf wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ben Whitehouse is the referee for this match. He was calling Ken Owens 'Ken' and Rynard Landman '5' in the same fixture two seasons ago.

Ben is from the other side of the Loughor Bridge so as a "Jack" don't expect him to do the Scarlets any favours, the opposite is more likely.

Is your one Turkish eye in your backside? Have a look at how often Whitehouse has refereed an away win.

If you are suggesting that a "Jack" ref is going to show bias towards the "Turks" then you really have a persecution complex!

And as far as away performances are concerned, when was the last time you saw a ref not influenced by a partisan home crowd, the fact is they are all homers?

Jesus Christ

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Only the six changes to the team this time.

Embarrassing

First trip to PYS on the DOSC bus. Looking forward to it. Sure we will make more noise than came out of the Library yesterday

#standupforthemenofgwent

Give em hell