“Leinster not an easy place to go,” says John

“Leinster not an easy place to go,” says John

Scarlets loosehead prop Phil John is relishing the challenge of taking on a Leinster side bolstered with international stars this weekend.

Scarlets secured a 25-14 victory over Leinster at Parc y Scarlets a few weeks ago but the Welsh region will be expecting a tougher test at the RDS this Friday evening as the Irish province have welcomed the return of their Rugby World Cup stars.

John, 34, has featured in all of Scarlets’ six Guinness PRO12 games this season scoring a brace of tries in the victory over Newport Gwent Dragons last weekend.

Looking ahead to Friday’s clash against Leinster, at the RDS, John said: “Leinster is not an easy place to go to. They’ll have all their internationals back and will be a completely different side to the one we faced a few weeks ago but those are boys you want to play against. They’ll be targeting a home win for themselves.”

Scarlets are six victories from six in the Guinness PRO12 campaign, John went on to say that the region are happy to have exceeded their target for the first block of the season; “We weren’t happy with out performance against Munster but we put in extra sessions on set piece and produced the goods last weekend.

“We set ourselves a target to be top four by the time the Rugby World Cup players came back and so to be top of the league – we’re much happier.

“We’re taking it one game at a time. We want to stay top of the league but we’re expecting a big battle up front this weekend. We’ll need to perform to keep our place.”

Scarlets return to the Parc on Saturday 21st November for the first home game in the European Rugby Champions Cup campaign.

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