The last time Peel and Rauluni met was to exchange jerseys in the aftermath of Fiji’s shock victory in Nantes that sent Wales crashing out of the Rugby World Cup two months ago. But British Lions scrum half Peel insists personal revenge is not on the menu as the Scarlets aim to serve up a Stradey Park revival against Saracens.
Peel said: “If he (Rauluni) wants to bring up the World Cup then that’s not a problem. But for me and the Scarlets it’s about what happens next, not what happened in the past. It’s always good to play against top class players, but there’s no point in looking back.
“We know we have to win this game; it’s like a quarter-final because there’s a place in the last four up for grabs, but it’s also important for the bigger picture of the Scarlets.
“We have looked hard at where we’ve gone wrong over the last few weeks and I honestly believe we are no major flaws in our game. Every team goes through bad periods, but now we have got a massive month of rugby ahead that could decide our season.
“We still have four games left in Europe, we’re second in the Magners League and we have a shot at a semi-final of the EDF Energy Cup.
“It’s always a physical battle against the English sides, but we know that if we can match them up front, we have got the extra string in our bow with the exciting runners in our team to cause them problems.”
Scarlets: Morgan Stoddart; Mark Jones, Regan King, Jon Davies, Garan Evans; Stephen Jones, Dwayne Peel; Iestyn Thomas, James Hayter, Deacon Manu, Adam Eustace, Scott Macleod, Simon Easterby (Capt), Gavin Thomas, Dafydd Jones
Replacements: Ben Broster, Daniel George, Vernon Cooper, Alix Popham, Gavin Cattle, Rhys Priestland, Nathan Brew
Saracens: tbc
