SCARLETS CELEBRATE LANDMARK TO BECOME FIRST WELSH CLUB TO ACHIEVE 100 HEINEKEN CUP GAMES
Scarlets celebrate landmark to become first Welsh club to achieve 100 Heineken Cup games.
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The Scarlets kick off their European campaign at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday and with it reach another significant landmark in their colourful heritage as the first Welsh region to play 100 Heineken Cup games.
The West Wales rugby region take on in-form French TOP14 club Castres Olympique on Saturday (12/11/11) for the 3pm kick-off at Parc y Scarlets with the French side who finished third in their championship last season and currently sit in third having won seven of their games this season.
The Scarlets will be meeting Castres for the first time in the Heineken Cup and come to the game having been unbeaten in their last five outings. Castres Olympique have not qualified for the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup since the 2001 / 2002 tournament – their last victory on the road was in 2002 against Bridgend.
The Scarlets won many plaudits for their free-flowing rugby in last season’s Heineken Cup and the Welsh region will be looking to kick their 2011/12 campaign off with a victory as they begin the hunt for their first quarter-final appearance since 2007.
The Scarlets have a strong European heritage including reaching three semi-finals in with 2011/2012 being a time to earlier this season celebrated 5000 games and looks forward to its 40th anniversary of t Scarlets have three European Semi-finals, against Northampton Saints and twice against Leicester Tigers and reached eight quarter-finals.
The Scarlets are the 5th club in European history to reach 100th tournament games and join some distinguished European company including Toulouse, Munster, Leinster and Leicester.
An exciting rugby occasion awaits supporters at Parc y Scarlets with the Scarlets fielding a strong mix of West Wales talent with a number of international performers pulling their Scarlets shirts fresh from the World Cup and after a well-fought draw (9-9) in the big local derby last weekend against the Ospreys.
One of the leading figures of the Heineken Cup tournament in Europe Stephen Jones in his 79th European appearance, takes up his position in the pivotal role of outside half after his landmark achievement of becoming Wales’ most capped player in the World Cup (104 caps).
Jones, who ranks as the Scarlets most experienced player in the European competition is also the Scarlets highest ever-point scorer currently on 2768 points with 297appearances to date. Jones was also the third player to top 500 points in the Heineken Cup and is currently the tournament’s second top point scorer behind Ronan O’Gara on 847 points.
The Scarlets say they know they will have a big challenge up front with a big emphasis on getting their set piece right and there is plenty of experience as well as younger ambition in the Scarlets forwards to take the game to a big French front eight.
Wales’ six nations captain and Scarlets skipper, Matthew Rees starts at hooker, alongside Props Rhys Thomas who has put in some impressive performances this season, along with another experienced European campaigner, Iestyn Thomas in his 52nd European game in a Scarlets shirt.
A resolute Scarlets pack is boosted by a back-line that is expected to bring some x-factor and thrilling crowd rousing action to the Scarlets’ performance.
George North, one of the stand-out young players of Wales’ World Cup campaign, starts in his first European fixture on the wing with other World Cup internationals Jon Davies, Sean Lamont, Tavis Knoyle, Stephen Jones and Scott Williams all starting in the backs division.
Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies said: “This tournament is where you pit yourselves against the best and it’s the competition that all of us are excited by and look forward to. We go into the game have gained some momentum and with some bonus point wins under our belt.
“There’s a great energy around our environment at the moment, on the back of some momentum which the team has built now and it’s great to see all the boys getting back together and motivated as a Scarlets group for this game.
“The key has been working hard on areas of our game that we knew this season we needed to build on and that showed in our performance last weekend against the Ospreys who could not out-muscle us; I was really encouraged to see the focus we’ve placed on the contact area, our defensive game and set piece work coming through in the performance.
“Our challenge is to marry those areas of our game up front with the style and brand of rugby we know we can play.
“We know Castres are very physical as most French sides are and will be difficult to play against and they have some good players in their team. The battle will be on physicality and drive and the boys know that.
“I’m excited about the quality and depth we have building here at the Scarlets; we seen some really great potential and talent from a number of our new young Scarlets and if we can get our set piece functioning we know what potential we have in attack behind the scrum.”
Scarlets team against Castres 12th November 2011, Parc y Scarlets kick off 3pm: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 3 Rhys Thomas, 4 Dominic Day, 5 Damian Welch 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Ken Owens, Phil John, Rhodri Jones, Sione Timani, Richie Pugh, Rhodri Williams, Rhys Priestland, Daniel Evans.
Rob McCusker (sprained foot) and Keiran Murphy (calf strain) have been been ruled out through injury.
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