Scarlets ready to give everything they’ve got against Racing says Williams

Scarlets’ international centre Scott Williams is relishing the opportunity of facing big spending Racing Metro this Friday evening as the pool stages of the 2013-14 Heineken Cup campaign draw to a close.

With narrow losses in recent weeks to Munster and Ospreys in the RaboDirect PRO12 Williams has stated that the players are looking forward to the big challenge ahead against Racing’s star-studded international line-up on Friday, 10th January.

The centre from Newcastle Emlyn, one of the region’s home-grown talents, said: “Racing are a big physical team and their line outs been going well for them. Our forwards have been working hard on that area this week – our set piece is going to be massive for us on the weekend in terms of winning ball.

“It was disappointing to come away with a draw against them at home. If someone had said at the start of the season that we’d have won and drawn the first two games in the Heineken Cup we would have taken that but afterwards we felt we should have been at the top of the table after the first two rounds and won both.

“It’ll be a different challenge going out to Paris on Friday but it’s one we’re looking forward to. There are a few new boys in the backline and getting game time together will make us bond a bit more and read each other better.”

The Scarlets will take heart from the opening victory against Harlequins and will look to kick-start their winning momentum against Racing Metro this weekend, Williams went on to say:

“The results in recent weeks have been frustrating but it’s certainly not due to a lack of effort. The boys have been putting their bodies on the line and giving 100%. We’ve taken a lot of positives from the last couple of games but there are also a lot of areas where we need to improve.

“We’re working on the errors and things that we can improve on and we’ll hopefully come out of this losing streak. If we can play like we did against the Quins and at times against Racing in the opening rounds it’ll be a good game.

“We’re in somewhat of a similar position going into the Quins game, we’d lost a few coming into the campaign but Friday is a chance to wipe the slate clean and give everything that we’ve got.”

Talking about his future Williams said: “It’s a frustrating time for us as players at the moment and the earlier the better that it’s sorted so it can put everyone’s minds at rest.

“I am just keeping talking to the Scarlets, keeping close to them, that is where we are at the moment. The ideal scenario would be for something to be sorted out and for me to stay.”