Scarlets Bring Back Wales Pair For Pro14 Clash

Wales centres Hadleigh Parkes and Scott Williams have been released from national duty to line up for the Scarlets against Benetton in Llanelli on Friday night.

The Wales pair are joined by Scotland captain John Barclay who will make his first appearance since September 23rd due to a concussion.

Wayne Pivac has made eight changes to the side that beat Cardiff Blues 30-17 last weekend.

In come Wales’ youngest ever international Tom Prydie on the wing, while Australian Paul Asquith lines up on the opposite touchline.

Scrum-half Jonathan Evans and outside-half Dan Jones partner each other at half back, while prop Dylan Evans and locks Lewis Rawlins and David Bulbring come into the pack alongside Barclay.

A number of youngsters occupy a place on the bench, with hooker Taylor Davies and prop Rhys Fawcett set for their league debuts, while scrum-half Declan Smith will hope to add to his brief lone appearance in the competition to date.

The Scarlets are top of Conference B in the Guinness PRO14, but face a tough challenge against a full-strength Benetton outfit who have improved markedly this term.

“It’s probably our biggest test since we took over as a coaching group,” said Pivac.

“It’s exciting. We’ve talked about how well we’ve gone in the last few years during the international windows and this is the biggest test for that particular group of people.

“We want to put on a good display as a team so everybody can hopefully enjoy the success and enjoy what has been a proud run at home in this competition. Having said that, we’re expecting a big challenge.

“It’s a home game, we see all home games as a must-win for us and if they come over fully loaded, we’ll be very happy to come out of it with a win. It’s definitely a target of ours to get four points.”

Treviso have been able to select the majority of their Italian stars with Jayden Hayward, Angelo Esposito, Tommaso Benvenuti and Alessandro Zanni all beginning the game.

Former Super Rugby-winning Highlanders captain Nasi Manu also gets the nod at flanker

 

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