Scarlets v Dragons

[An Tarbh]

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The Scarlets make 1 change to the side which picked up their second win in Pool 6 at Reading last weekend. A hip injury sees Davies miss out with his place going to Rob Higgitt.

For the Dragons there's 6 changes with Tom Willis back to skipper the side, he's joined in the front row by Hugh Gustafson, Robert Sidoli partners Luke Charteris in the second row while MacDonald comes into the backrow. In the backline Tom Riley and Richard Fussell both start.

Scarlets: Daniel Evans; Lee Williams, Sean Lamont, Rob Higgitt, Mark Jones (capt); Stephen Jones, Martin Roberts; Iestyn Thomas, Matthew Rees, Deacon Manu, Lou Reed, Dominic Day, Simon Easterby, Dafydd Jones, David Lyons.

Replacements: Phil John, Ken Owens, Vernon Cooper, Richie Pugh, Tavis Knoyle, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Maule.

Dragons: Martyn Thomas; Aled Brew, Tom Riley, Ashley Smith, Richard Fussell; James Arlidge, Wayne Evans; Hugh Gustafson, Tom Willis (capt), Peter Bracken, Robert Sidoli, Luke Charteris, Danny Lydiate, Gavin Thomas, Hoani MacDonald.

Replacements: Steve Jones, Gethin Robinson, Adam Jones, Lewis Evans, Jason Tovey, Matthew Watkins, Danny Lee.

Referee: Peter Allan (SRU)

 

[dullonien]

Should be a good game, with the Scarlets edging it. Jonathan Davies is a big loss for the Scarlets, but so's Braman for the Dragons.

There's quite a few players here battling for inclusion in Gatland squad. From the Scarlets, Daniel Evans, Mark Jones, Stephen Jones, Martin Roberts, Iestyn Thomas, Mathew Rees, Lou Reed, Dafydd Jones and Ken Owens are all possible inclusions. The Dragons hopefulls include: Aled Brew, Wayne Evans, Luke Charteris, Dan Lydiate and Jason Tovey.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

No Jon Davis will make a big diffrence to the Scarlets- If that boy doesn't make the Wales squad, there is not justice in the world. On the other hand, Matthew J should also be a big plus for the Dragons...


I had, funnily enough, posted the same topic ten minutes before hand. Ah well, only having on maker keeps things tidy.

 

[dullonien]

Not sure how I ended up typing Braman, instead of Bearman.....

 

[An Tarbh]

Wayne Evans, Luke Charteris & Stephen Jones have all cried off late.

 

[Juan VdS]

Bearman... the "Hair Bears"... no wonder every single time I think of something related to Wales, it's got a bear in it.

 

[dullonien]

Scarlets won a scrappy affair 15-3. The weather conditions were very poor, so plenty of handling errors. Prestland kicked all of the Scarlets points, don't think he missed either, fair play to the lad. Scarlets pack dominated procedings, especially at scrum time and with the rolling maul. Overall, not much for Gatland to run a rule over.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Boring game. Only three or four breaks, and a couple of decent mauls. The Dragons looked like scoring tries, but destroyed their chances at the last second. The Scarlets had the majority of possestion, but no territory. Snore.

Only plus is that Preistland didn't have the mare I was expecting of him.