By Steffan Thomas
The Scarlets are set to bolster their front-row resources with the signing of 20-stones Southern Kings tight-head prop Pieter Scholtz.
Glenn Delaney’s side will be without first choice number three Samson Lee for large parts of the season due to Wales commitments.
In his absence, the west Walians suffered serious problems in the set piece as they were taken to the cleaners at scrum time by Edinburgh in their recent home defeat.
The Scarlets have been ravaged by international call-ups with 12 players in the Wales squad while Tevita Ratuva and Blade Thomson are with Fiji and Scotland respectively.
Delaney, along with his scrum coach Ben Franks, have identified tight-head as an area in need of strengthening and are hopeful Scholtz can help solidify their set-piece.
The 26-year-old is expected to arrive in Llanelli next week on a contract until the end of this current season and will compete with former Springbok Werner Kruger and Javan Sebastian for the number three shirt at Parc y Scarlets.
Scholtz has recently appeared for the Kings in the Guinness PRO14 but was left in disarray after their liquidation. He has previously played for the Lions and the Pumas in the Currie Cup.
The 132kg prop has a reputation in South Africa as a strong scrummager and powerful ball carrier.
Without Lee, the Scarlets narrowly beat Zebre 18-17 in a tense Guinness PRO14 clash in Llanelli on Sunday.
Two first-half tries from right-wing Ryan Conbeer and scrum-half Dane Blacker along with eight points from the boot of Angus O’Brien saw the Scarlets record only their second win of the season.
Pierre Bruno crossed for a second-half try with Antonio Rizzi kicking 12 points for the visitors.
