Connacht v Scarlets: Teams

Scarlets coach Nigel Davies is refusing to underestimate Connacht despite seeing his side romp to a 45-3 victory against the Irish province in September.

The Scarlets have only lost once to Connacht in their last five meetings, but that 20-18 reverse came at the Galway Sportsground last season.

And having seen their opponents win three of their last four matches, Davies knows it will not be easy for his team on their travels.

Davies said: "Connacht have put in some strong performances of late and are very difficult to play against.

"We've lost over there in the past so Friday has the makings of a very difficult game. However, the fact that we're fighting for this league focuses the mind a little bit which isn't a bad thing.

"Connacht's a tough place to go; it's a small field, normally windy and they play a basic game very well. They'll be physical as ever and they'll kick for territory so we'll have to manage that particularly well.

"We've got to be clinical in our approach and we've got to have a tough mentality."

Illness has meant Stephen Jones has struggled to train in the build up to the match, however the Wales international is named on the bench alongside the returning Iestyn Thomas.

Connacht welcome back full-back Gavin Duffy and centre Keith Matthews for the visit of the Scarlets.

Duffy had been sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Matthews has recovered from a bout of 'flu.

In the pack Brett Wilkinson and Sean Cronin also return to the front-row, with Ray Ofisa starting at openside flanker.

Connacht: 15 G Duffy, 14 F Carr, 13 N Ta'auso, 12 K Matthews, 11 L Bibo, 10 I Keatley, 9 F Murphy, 1 B Wilkinson, 2 S Cronin, 3 R Morris, 4 M McCarthy, 5 A Farley, 6 J Muldoon (capt), 7 R Ofisa, 8 C Rigney.
Replacements: 16 A Flavin, 17 R Loughney, 18 M Swift, 19 A Browne, 20 K Campbell, 21 A Dunne, 22 M Deane.

Scarlets: 15 Morgan Stoddart, 14 Darren Daniel, 13 Regan King, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Gareth Morris, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts; 1 Phil John, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 Dominic Day, 5 Simon Maling, 6 Simon Easterby (c), 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 David Lyon.
Replacements: 16 Iestyn Thomas, 17 Ken Owens, 18 Lou Reed, 19 Vernon Cooper, 20 Gavin Cattle, 21 Dafydd Jones, 22 Stephen Jones.