Scarlets: G Evans; A Havili, M Watkins, M Phillips, T elley; G Bowen, D Peel; P John, R McBryde, J Davies, V Cooper, D Duley, S Easterby (capt), I Boobyer, A Powell.
Replacements: Dorian Williams (Llandovery), A Gravelle, C Wyatt, A Jones, J Mills, Arwel Thomas, S Finau.
SCARLETS HEAD NORTH
The Scarlets have only win in their past four matches was 35-26 over the Dragons at Stradey Park on New Year’s Day, whilst their only away victory in their last eight trips came at Glasgow on 5 December.
The Scarlets have a superb record against Scottish clubs with just one defeat from their last13 matches against teams from the north. But the recent form of their hosts will mak their trip to the Sctotish capital a daunting prospect.
The home side has won all three previous encounters between the two, with Llanelli Scarlets winning 37-16 at Stradey Park in September.
Edinburgh, fresh from their superb victory over Perpignan in the Heineken Cup, will be attempting to win successive matches for the first time since last January. But Edinburgh’s home record of late against Welsh teams is poor with just one victory in their last seven matches – 35-16 over Cardiff Blues at Murrayfield on 2 October.
However, Scarlets team manager Nigel Davies is all too aware of the strenghts of the Scots. “This weekend is another massive game, Edinburgh are a very capable side and to ensure a win we need to nail our defensive mentality,” he said. “When sides have scored against us it’s been through a comedy of errors on our part and that is unacceptable. We’ve worked hard on our organisation in defence and that will be key on Friday night.”
Edinburgh: H Southwell, C Paterson, M Di Rollo, B Laney, S Webster, P Godman, M Blair, A Jacobsen, D Hall, C Smith, F Pringle, S Murray, T Blackadder (capt), A Strokosch, D Callam.
Replacements: A Kelly, A Dickinson, N Hines, S Cross, R Lawson, C Joiner, D Lee.
