Scarlets travel to Edinburgh for first encounter in Scottish double

The Scarlets travel to Murrayfield on Friday evening for the fourth round of the PRO12 hoping to repeat their form from last season when they secured an important away in a in a tightly-contested game in the Scottish capital.

With both teams wanting to gain momentum in the early part of the season and looking to secure their second victory of the campaign, the travelling West Wales side are preparing themselves for a tough contest.

Edinburgh Rugby’s last five matches have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst their only defeat at Murrayfield since February was 24-32 to Connacht in April.

Edinburgh have beaten Scarlets just once in their last six fixtures since 2010: 26-23 at Murrayfield in March 2012. Welsh Regions have been victorious on three of their last four visits to Murrayfield.

The Scarlets first win in their last five RaboDirect PRO12 encounters was 26-10 at home to Treviso in round two. The Welshmen have won their last four encounters against Scottish opponents. The Scarlets won 28-29 on their last trip to Murrayfield in October 2012.

With a home fixture against Glasgow the following weekend, it’s a timely come-back for the Scarlets new openside flanker, Scottish international John Barclay who is back on the field following shoulder surgery over the summer.

The Scarlets’ British and Irish Lions centre Jon Davies will captain his region for the first time in his new role this season as co-captain of the Scarlets. His co-captain Scarlets back row Rob McCusker will receive the honour and support of his region as he achieves his 100th appearance in a Scarlets shirt.

Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “We are expecting Edinburgh to be very competitive back at home this weekend. They have key individuals in their team that we’ll have to manage and will be well-organised under an experienced coach in Alan Solomons.

“They have players up front that give them good go forward as well as the threats on the wing. It’ll be about imposing our game plan and stopping them from getting their game going.

“Both sides are looking to get some form, so hopefully it will be an entertaining fixture like last week and this time we’ll be working hard to come back with the right result this time.

“We started slowly last Friday, and the Dragons made the most of the Rodney Parade factor; our contact area was below par and it’s such a huge area in the game and has been a big focus for us. We need to get that right and so it doesn’t affect the way we play the game.

“It’s a nice wide pitch at Murrayfield so hopefully that will allow us to play with a bit of width and the players are familiar with the ground and we know after last season that we can get a good result up there.

“John Barclay has been a good voice around the group and shown his experience this week. It’s going to be a big few weeks for him against his international Scottish colleagues fighting for positions in the national side. He’ll want to play some good rugby and hit some form in a run of game-time for us over the next three or four weeks.”

Scarlets Team v Edinburgh; Friday September 27th 2013 kick off at 7.45pm at Murrayfield; 15 Liam Williams; 14 Nick Reynolds; 13 Jonathan Davies (capt); 12 Scott Williams; 11 Jordan Williams; 10 Rhys Priestland; 9 Rhodri Williams; 1 Phil John; 2 Emyr Phillips; 3 Samson Lee; 4 Jake Ball; 5 Joe Snyman; 6 Josh Turnbull; 7 John Barclay; 8 Rob McCusker (capt).

Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 George Earle, 20 Sione Timani, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Gareth Maule

Players not available for selection: Kristian Phillips, wing (fractured hand), Aaron Shingler, back row (neck sprain), Gareth Davies, scrum half (calf strain), Gareth Owen, full back (knee sprain), Deacon Manu, Prop (fractured arm), Steve Shingler, centre/outside half (ankle (para tendon) strain).