Owen Farrell insists the Scarlets’ recent revival has been noted by European champions Saracens.
The England No.10 believes the region are a different proposition this weekend to the team that lost at Sarries at the start of the Champions Cup tournament last October.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash at Pacr Y Scarlets, Farrell said: “We need to concentrate on the challenge that’s ahead of us. I’d imagine the Scarlets are a different team to the one we played earlier this season.
“They had a massive result against Toulon, and that was at home for them as well, so it’s going to be a tough game. They’ve got some brilliant players, they play some good rugby, so we’re going to have to make sure that we’re on it.”
One of the Scarlets players likely to be under most scrutiny this weekend is Saracens-bound full back Liam Williams. The Wales star has signed a three-year deal with the North London club from next season, but will present a major threat to his future team mates this weekend.
“He’s a fantastic player and he’ll be a brilliant addition to the team. Hopefully he doesn’t do too well this weekend,” added Farrell.
Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, has been delighted to see his side pick up more points than any other in the Champions Cup over the opening four rounds, but realises it is what happens over the next two weekends that counts. He wants a home quarter-final and that can only be guaranteed with two more wins.
“It has been a good campaign for us so far – 18 points from the first four games took a lot of doing. But we understand the importance and the significance of this game in terms of getting us what we want, which is a home quarter-final – it’s a massive game for us,” said McCall, who saw his side beat the Scarlets 44-26 at Allianz Park in Round 2.
“Whether 22 points will be enough I am not sure. It might not be and then the Toulon game the week after becomes all the more important.
“They lost their first home game, but since then they’ve won eight consecutively, so it is a tough old place to go. They have taken some big scalps there and it is a game with a lot on it for us because if we win this weekend the Toulon game becomes unimportant.”
Farrell insists Champions Cup holders won’t be thinking about records when they head to Parc y Scarlets for what could be a 14th successive European victory.
Having completed a perfect ‘nine out of nine’ to win the title for the first time last season, the English champions joined the mighty Munster sides of 2005-2007 on a tournament record 13 wins in a row with their back-to-back win over Sale Sharks in Rounds 3 and 4.
Their four successive triumphs this season have edged them eight points clear of RC Toulon in Pool 3 with two games to play. If they can beat the Scarlets they will write their names into history, but England and British & Irish Lions star Farrell only has one goal in mind in Round 5.
“What’s more important than the record is that we put ourselves in a position to progress into the next round of the competition. We want to be right up there in our Pool and that’s massively difficult to do,” added Farrell.