Scarlets captain Ken Owens has made an emotional plea for the Scarlets to restore some pride in the shirt as they prepare for the final pool game of the 2015-16 European Rugby Champions Cup campaign.
After a record defeat in the region’s history in the competition, against Racing 92 in Paris on Sunday afternoon, Owens is adamant that the region finishes on a high at the Parc this Saturday afternoon.
Northampton Saints will be looking to secure a victory to keep any hopes they still have of qualifying alive with the Scarlets going out to restore pride in their performance and pride in the jersey.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference earlier this week Owens said: “We will try and finish on a positive note in Europe and take momentum into the PRO12.
“It means everything not to be whitewashed. Everything. For players, coaches, supporters. We worked really hard to guarantee that sixth spot last season to bring us into this competition. We can’t hide from the fact that we’ve lost five from five with some pretty poor performances. We want to finish on a positive to take something from this campaign.
“I’m one of the fortunate ones perhaps who has played in a semi final and been involved. We’ve been through some tough times but we’ve always looked to Europe for motivation and to get scalps.
“You can accept losing to a better side, Racing were by far the better side but the manner we lost was hugely disrespectful to the club and to each other and supporters who travelled out there. We have to take that on the chin, have to be honest and take a good hard look at ourselves.
“You can’t let it linger. We’ll have to put this Racing game to bed. It won’t be forget about it but build to Northampton. We’ve got to lick our wounds, pick ourselves up, put in a decent shift in at home and get some respect back.”
Scarlets return to the Parc on Saturday 23rd January to take on Northampton Saints in the final pool game of the European Rugby Champions Cup, kick-off 5.30pm.
The Guinness PRO12 will return to the Parc on Friday 12th February as Scarlets take on Edinburgh Rugby, kick-off 8.15pm.
Tickets for both games are available now at tickets.scarlets.co.uk or by calling 0871 871 8088 during normal office hours.
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