Llanelli make one change for Thomond clash

Llanelli have made just one change to the side that beat Edinburgh for the trip to Thomond Park. Gareth Bowen comes in at out-half for Arwel Thomas, but coach Gareth Jenkins has delayed naming his replacement line-up pending injury reports.

Bowen was a central figure in the 19-12 victory at Thomond last season, the match in which Munster lost their six-year unbeaten record at the ground.

“Munster have a great tradition at Thomond Park and with their internationals back we know we will see them in their true guise,” said Jenkins. “We have to create an environment to put them under pressure. We need a positive scrum, aggressive line-out, a stubborn tackling game and enough flair in our own play.”

Last week’s win 37-16 win over Edinburgh was the first indication that the Scarlets of last season are back. They had averaged 40 passes through the hand in their previous fixtures against The Ospreys and The Dragons, but upped that to 120 against the Scotsmen. Their speed through the contact area was also much improved.

Assistant coach Nigel Davies said We still have a lot of areas in which we need to improve, but until we play an improved game as we did on Saturday night, it’s difficult to see where the deficiency we’ve been playing with lies.

The side is captained by Simon Easterby.

15. Barry DAVIES
14. Garan EVANS
13. Matthew WATKINS
12. Mark TAYLOR
11. Tal SELLEY
10. Gareth BOWEN
9. Mike PHILLIPS
1. Iestyn THOMAS
2. Matthew REES
3. John DAVIES
4. Vernon COOPER
5. Adam JONES
6. Simon EASTERBY (C)

7. Gavin THOMAS
8. Andy POWELL