Scarlets Heading For Sell-Out As Toulon Showdown Looms

By Rob Cole

Scarlet fever is set to sweep Wales this week and threaten to dump three time champions RC Toulon out of the Champions Cup on Saturday.

With more than half of the 14,500 capacity at Parc Y Scarlets already sold, the Guinness PRO12 champions are confident they can break their European record gate of 13,183 against Munster in 2011 as they seek to reach the knock-out stages for the first time in 11 years.

The maths are simple for head coach Wayne Pivac – reverse the 21-20 defeat at Stade Felix Mayol in round one and they are through the quarter-finals. Having pasted Bath 35-17 with four thrilling tries on Friday night, they will go into the game full of confidence.

Toulon did their bit by beating Benetton Treviso 36-0 at home to secure the bonus point that took them one point clear at the top of the Pool. Even so, when they head to Parc Y Scarlets it will take a win or a draw to see them through.

“We were always going into the final two pool games against Bath and Toulon confident we could win both matches. After winning the PRO12 last season we set ourselves the target of competing in Europe,” said Wales prop Rob Evans.

“We’ve competed well physically with packs of the quality of Toulon and our scrum has always been pretty good – it’s something we pride ourselves on. It is a big part of our game because we need to provide the backs with good ball.”

The Scarlets scrum gave Bath a torrid time and paved the way for the bonus-point win at The Rec. Now the task is to repeat the 22-21 home win over Toulon last season. There were 8,579 at the ground to see that one, but the likelihood is there will be many more than that this weekend.

The 1,500 fans who made the trip to Bath sang their hearts out from start to finish and were treated with another special away day performance. Having lost their opening two games, it would be a significant turn-around if the Scarlets become the first Welsh club since Cardiff Blues in 2012.