Wayne Pivac has admitted his Scarlets team owe it to their fans to prevent a blip growing into a crisis.
The Wales coach-elect has challenged his players to respond when they host the Cardiff Blues in Saturday’s Welsh derby following a four-game losing sequence.
The region have seen their European dreams disintegrate in recent weeks and their Guinness Pro 14 ambitions also took a blow – not to mention their local pride – when they were beaten by the Ospreys just before Christmas.
Now Pivac wants a response against the Blues at Parc Y Scarlets, admitting the expectations of their supporters have not been met.
The New Zealander said: “It was a disappointing result last week. It will be a short training this week, but we have a very important game back at home against the Blues.
“We are due to give our supporters a bit of a lift because we haven’t delivered for them in the last few matches.
“We are not playing our best rugby at the moment and we played half a game against the Ospreys.
“We moved Hadleigh Parkes to 10 for that game as we felt we have been breached too easily there in defence in recent matches.
“But we got sucked into a kicking battle and we kicked the ball 33 times which is too much for us as we went away from our style of play.”
The Scarlets won’t have Wales internationals Rhys Patchell and Jake Ball available to face the Blues after both suffered injuries against the Ospreys.
“Rhys has a hamstring injury and will be out for between four to six weeks,” Pivac said.
“Jake has injured his AC joint in his shoulder, but he doesn’t need surgery which is good news. We think he will be out for between three to six weeks.
Having suffered concussion against Australia during Wales’ autumn campaign, Leigh Halfpenny has been unavailable for the region but makes a welcome return to action.
Johnny McNicholl retains his place on the wing with Gareth Davies and Hadleigh Parkes retaining their 9/10 partnership with Jonathan Davies and Kieron Fonotia in midfield. Tom Prydie joins McNicholl and Halfpenny in the back-three.
Following Ball’s shoulder injury, Josh Helps comes in to the second row alongside David Bulbring with the remainder of the pack unchanged.
On the challenge of facing the Blues, Pivac added: “We are looking internally at ourselves. The Blues have had results they would have been happy with, but others they would not.
“It’s the same for us and it’s a game we need to win against a dangerous Blues opponent.
“There is plenty to play for.”
The Blues have made three changes on the back of a dramatic victory over Dragons at Cardiff Arms Park last week, where Gareth Anscombe slotted a last-gasp penalty to seal the win.
Two of John Mulvihill’s changes come in the pack, with both Brad Thyer and George Earle re-introduced into the starting line-up, as back row Olly Robinson is named on the bench.
The only other change sees scrum half Lloyd Williams, given the nod at number nine, replacing Tomos Williams.
Head coach John Mulvihill is looking forward to his first visit to west Wales and said: “We’ve kept our selection quite consistent over the last couple of weeks but Gilly [Rhys Gill] picked up a knock and Brad Thyer is one of our stronger scrummagers so he comes in.
“We’ve picked Lloyd [Williams] just to make sure we get our kicking game right and play in the right areas in the first half.
“We were happy with the four points against Dragons but there were some areas where we really let ourselves down.
“The first 20 after half-time was excellent, 81 per cent territory, a lot of possession and we scored but we didn’t go back to back and then found ourselves on the wrong end of some decisions and it the wrong parts of the field. It was a perfect storm for the Dragons in the last 20.
“The Scarlets are a Championship team, they have some really good players and I’m sure they’ll try to find a way tomorrow playing at home.
“We went through a bit of a bad patch as well so we understand their mind set. They will be dangerous.
“If we get a good result this week and follow it up next week then we put some pressure on them and are back in the mix, which is where we need to be. The season is in our hands.
“It will be my first time playing those guys, it’s down there so I’m looking forward to it.
“Hopefully there will be a good crowd. It’s a derby game and people always turn up, and hopefully it will be a really hard fought game.”
Dmitri Arhip, is set for a return to action, as he’s named amongst the replacements at Parc y Scarlets. The Moldovan international, who arrived at the Welsh capital over the summer, has been on the sidelines since October but recovers to take his place on the bench.
Fellow prop and Cardiff Blues academy graduate, Corey Domachowski, is included in the matchday squad for the first time this season.
Scarlets: Leigh Halfpenny; Tom Prydie, Jonathan Davies, Kieron Fonotia, Johnny McNicholl; Hadleigh Parkes, Gareth Davies, Rob Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Samson Lee, Josh Helps, David Bulbring, Ed Kennedy, James Davies, Will Boyde.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Werner Kruger, Tom Price, Dan Davis, Kieran Hardy, Dan Jones, Paul Asquith
Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Blaine Scully, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Garyn Smith; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams; Brad Thyer, Kristian Dacey (capt), Dillon Lewis, George Earle, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull, Josh Navidi, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Corey Domachowski, Dmitri Arhip, James Down, Olly Robinson, Tomos Williams, Steve Shingler, Matthew Morgan.
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)
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