Scarlets Captaincy Announced

ALL SMILES AS SCARLETS NAME POPULAR WALES AND BRITISH LIONS HOOKER MATTHEW REES AS CAPTAIN

The Scarlets have named the experienced and well-respected Wales and British Lions hooker, Matthew Rees as captain for the forthcoming season.

The decision to hand Rees the captain’s role is as part of a three-way international line-up that will lead the region forward and includes roles for Stephen Jones and David Lyons.

With 39 international cap Rees as Scarlets Captain, Head Coach Nigel Davies has also named 91-cap fly-half and Scarlets highest-ever points scorer (2612) Stephen Jones as vice-captain; with 43-cap Australian international David Lyons as captain in the wings to lead the squad when Rees and Jones are on international duty.

The decision to name a ‘leadership group’ at the helm of the squad, with a total of 466 Scarlets appearances between them, underpins the Scarlets’ philosophy to maintain continuity and consistency in their rugby approach throughout next season.

Announcing the decision, Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies said:  “What we have in this group are three natural leaders, they all have different qualities and strengths which will benefit our group and the mix of players we have.  They will work closely together to provide a consistency and continuity in how we lead our players forward throughout the season.

“Matthew brings a fresh, new dynamic to the captaincy. He has had great experience in recent years and has matured hugely as a player. His natural leadership qualities are obvious on and off the field and sets very high standards for himself and others. He will bring some different strengths to the Scarlets captaincy including a mental toughness and hard-edge which will be good for this squad going forward.

“He’s a complete professional and exemplifies all aspects of the Scarlets values and culture.  He’ll have the backing and belief of everyone in the squad and I know he will do a great job for us as captain of our region.”

Davies added that the choices made within the Scarlets’ rugby set-up were about securing the right support and know-how to match the make-up of the squad and spark its true potential.  He said: “We’ve got a good mix of experience and energy throughout our squad now and a lot of our players matured a great deal last season from their exposure to top flight rugby, so we will be expecting more from them going forward.

“We have invested heavily in our development from within Scarlets rugby.  The group is coming through strongly from what we’ve seen and done in pre-season – we have an exciting new coaching set-up and with these three strong senior players now leading the team, there’s a lot to be optimistic about.”

Matthew Rees said:  “I am thrilled to have been given this honour and really looking forward to leading this Scarlets squad.  On a personal note, it’s a great achievement for me and will push me on more. It’s been a huge couple of years for me as a player and with the experience I’ve had recently, I think it’s a really good time for me to take this role. I can’t wait to lead the Scarlets and I’ll be giving it everything.

“With experienced guys like Steve and David backing me as well, I think we’ll have a lot of strength and focus in getting this squad to perform to the best of its ability. For me, it’s about getting back to winning ways and I want to see Parc y Scarlets become a much tougher place to come and play.  There is huge potential in this squad from senior level down through to our exciting new crop of development players.  You can see that some of the guys who’ve had a taste of top level rugby now are eager to produce the results.”

Scarlets, Wales and Lions teammate Stephen Jones said of the decision to hand the captain’s role to Rees:  “He will be a great leader of this team, his rugby CV speaks for itself, he’s well liked amongst all the Scarlets players and equally has their complete respect.  He’s a good man, a real professional and you only have to look at the way he plays on the field to know what he will bring to the captaincy.  I’ll be pleased to work alongside him and David Lyons to take this Scarlets squad forward.  There’s a good vibe around the Scarlets – with plenty of energy and enthusiasm and the boys are just keen to get started.”

Scarlets no 8 and last season’s vice-captain David Lyons made a major impression on the field for the region last season.  He lead the region as captain for the second half of the season in the absence of injured captain Mark Jones and says he looks forward to helping build consistency and continuity.  He said:  “We took a lot out of our wins and defeats last season and it gave a lot of guys some great experience. It’s now time for this team to stand-up and improve our standards and consistency in the season ahead and I’m really looking forward to playing my part in helping lead that.”

Matthew Rees, 29 from Tonyrefail first joined the Scarlets in the 2004/2005 season and has appeared 128 times for his region. He has achieved 39 caps for Wales and was as part of the front row for three Tests for the British and Irish Lions against South Africa in June 2009. Now into his sixth season with the Scarlets, he was previously with Merthyr, Pontypridd and the former Celtic Warriors. He was part of the 35-man Wales national squad for the 2010 Six Nations tournament.

Rees made his Test debut for Wales against the USA on the summer tour to North America in 2005. Rees won his second cap against Argentina in the summer of 2006, and followed this up with a call-up to the national squad ahead of the Invesco Perpetual Series in the autumn of the same year. He made the starting line-ups for the matches against Australia and Canada, in which he scored his first international try, and also featured as a replacement in the Series finale with New Zealand. Rees was named in Gareth Jenkins’s 41-man preliminary Rugby World Cup 2007 summer training squad, making the final 30-man cut in August. He made three appearances for Wales at the Rugby World Cup as he was included in the starting line-ups in the clashes against Canada, Australia and Fiji. Rees missed the opportunity to play against the world champions in the Prince William Cup clash in November 2007 due to injury.