Cardiff Blues have made five changes for their return to Guinness Pro14 action against the Scarlets on Saturday night.
The Blues go into the Welsh derby at Parc y Scarlets on the back of consecutive European Challenge Cup victories against Lyon and Toulouse.
Kristian Dacey continues to skipper the team and four of the changes come in the pack. Brad Thyer and Dillon Lewis complete the front-row, while Seb Davies and Olly Robinson step up from the bench at lock and flanker respectively.
The only other change comes in the back-line where Willis Halaholo returns to form a familiar midfield partnership with Rey Lee-Lo.
Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson expects a formidable challenge from the Llanelli-based outfit but he insists his side can go into the encounter with confidence.
Wilson said: “On the back of four wins out of five, culminating with a great win out in Toulouse, we can go there with confidence.
“It was a good performance (Toulouse) and a very pleasing result away from home in a venue like that and against a multi-million-pound squad. To come out of Europe with two wins is great.
“However, the Scarlets are the league champions and they’re on their own patch so it is probably the toughest fixture of the season so far.
“We’ve had a couple of headaches in terms of selection following the performances in the last five weeks but we are still without a number of top professionals like Gethin Jenkins, Ellis Jenkins, Gareth Anscombe and Sam Warburton.”
Former Scarlets Matthew Rees, Josh Turnbull and Steve Shingler all line up on the bench, while Lloyd Williams will make his 150th appearance if he is called into action.
Scarlets centre Scott Williams will captain the Scarlets in the week he was dropped from the Wales squad by coach Warren Gatland.
Williams is the only personnel change to the backline that took to the field against Bath Rugby in the European Rugby Champions Cup last week, with Jonathan Davies moving to the replacements bench.
In the pack head coach Wayne Pivac, who has this week penned a new deal with the Scarlets, has made two changes. Both changes are in the front row with Ryan Elias replacing Ken Owens at hooker and Werner Kruger in for tighthead prop Samson Lee.
Focus returns to the Pro14 after a fortnight of Champions Cup action with the Scarlets hoping to keep their winning momentum alive in the championship. Cardiff Blues will be in high spirits and full of confidence after two victories in the Challenge Cup.
The Scarlets achieved the season’s double over Cardiff Blues in 2016/17 and will be keen to repeat that feat with Blues’ only victory in their last eight visits to Parc y Scarlets was back in April 2016.
Pivac said: “We’ve now got a big game against Cardiff Blues to look forward to.
“They’re always tight affairs and usually physical encounters. We’ve reprogrammed ourselves if you like back into the Pro14 and we’ll hopefully see some good weather and we can play some good footy.
“We know the individuals in their side, they know our guys really well, the coaches know each other. It makes for an exciting game and in our calendar it’s always one that we all look forward to.”
Scarlets: Leigh Halfpenny; Johnny Mcnicholl, Hadleigh Parkes, Scott Williams (capt), Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Werner Kruger, Jake Ball, Lewis Rawlins, Aaron Shingler, Will Boyde, Tadhg Beirne.
Replacements: Ken Owens, Dylan Evans, Simon Gardiner, David Bulbring, Josh Macleod, Jonathan Evans, Paul Asquith, Jonathan Davies.
Cardiff Blues: Matthew Morgan; Alex Cuthbert, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Blaine Scully; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Brad Thyer, Kristian Dacey (capt), Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, James Down, Josh Navidi, Olly Robinson, Nick Williams.
Replacement: Matthew Rees, Corey Domachowski, Keiron Assiratti, Macauley Cook, Josh Turnbull, Lloyd Williams, Steve Shingler, Rhun Williams.
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rhys Thomas (WRU), Jon Hardy (WRU)
TMO: Neil Hennessey (WRU)
