The Scarlets are preparing a Saturday night speed trap for Fijian superstar Leone Nakarawa.
Coach Wayne Pivac has warned his team they must slow the wheels on the brilliant Fiji lock when they face Racing 92.
The Scarlets face last season’s beating finalists in Llanelli desperate to get their Heineken Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start.
And Pivac insists stopping Fiji’s finest in Nakarawa holds the key to victory.
He said: “Leone Nakarawa is always exciting to watch. He’s a big man, has a great skill set, can run in the wide channels very strongly, is a big lineout forwards and a great defender.
“He’s a world class player and we have to stop him. We need to find a way of preventing him from getting his hands on the ball.
“If we can dominate territory and possession like we did last weekend against the Ospreys it will go a long way towards getting a victory.”
The west Walians were physically blown away in last season’s semi-final against Leinster.
But Pivac is confident his side are in a far better position going into this campaign.
He said: “There’s a bit more respect for us out there because we achieved some good results in Europe last season. Nobody takes us lightly anymore so we’ve got to be at the top of our game.
“It’s about taking our opportunities and making sure that we are very accurate in what we do on the day.”
Pivac has been able to call on experienced centre Jonathan Davies for the opening round clash as he makes a return after sitting out last weekend’s derby clash against Ospreys at Parc y Scarlets.
With Tom Prydie and Rhys Patchell unavailable through injury, Angus O’Brien comes in at outside half with Steff Evans making a return to the wing.
The pack remains unchanged from the side that took on, and secured victory, over the Ospreys last weekend.
Rob Evans takes a place on the replacements bench as he makes a return from a shoulder injury suffered against Leinster in the second round of the PRO14.
Pivac added: “We’re very much looking forward to return of the European campaign. We’ve got fond memories of last year.
“Having said that we’d just like to get a better start. This weekend presents a different sort of challenge, a French team coming here with a lot of big men. They went all the way through to the final last year. They’re going to be a class act and a challenge that we look forward to.
“They’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of game breakers. We need to make sure that we don’t make too many errors, that we bring that crowd into it by starting well and making sure we give them something to cheer about.
“We’ve had some big performances here at the Parc but we’ve generally started pretty well.”
Scarlets team to take on Racing 92 at Parc y Scarlets, Saturday 13thOctober, kick-off 17:30;
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Angus O’Brien, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens ©, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Jake Ball, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Ed Kennedy, 7 Will Boyde, 8 Blade Thomson
Replacements; 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Tom Price, 20 Josh Macleod, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Paul Asquith.
