Racing 92 v Scarlets: Champions Cup preview

Dan Carter moves into the midfield for the visit of Scarlets

Dan Carter has been shifted into the midfield for Racing 92's Champions Cup clash with Scarlets on Sky Sports.

The World Cup winner has been pivotal to the strong start to the season for the French powerhouse, but this week he moves into the No 12 jersey, with Remi Tales taking up the fly-half duties.

Teaming up with Tales is former Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips in the half-backs, who hailed the impact Carter has had on the team thus far.

"He's been playing outstandingly from the start," Phillips told Sky Sports. "A lot of players take their time getting into it but with his quality he's hit the ground running and he's doing some great stuff.

"He's fitted in well and gets on with everyone and the boys are delighted that he's here with us.

"Hopefully he can carry on playing well!"

A win for the unbeaten Paris side would see them progress to the quarter-finals of the competition, while Scarlets are still seeking their first victory of the campaign. 

Despite the Scarlets' poor start to the season, Phillips insists Racing will not underestimate them.

He said: "We managed to beat Scarlets with a bonus away, but I think they're going to be gunning for us this time. They also won last time we played them at Racing.

"They're obviously out of the competition but that is why they could be so dangerous.

Mike Phillips (left) says the Scarlets could be dangerous opponents

"They're young and enthusiastic and they will be running from everywhere and trying everything. They're going to be quite dangerous, they've got no pressure on them whatsoever."

Linking with Carter in the midfield is Casey Laulala, and they come up against Scarlets' centre pairing of Hadleigh Parkes and Regan King.

Dimitri Szarzewski skippers the French side in the No 2 jersey where he joins Eddy Ben Arous and Ben Tameifuna in the front row - all three scored a try in last week's win over Glasgow.

Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dan Carter, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Mike Phillips, 1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (c), 3 Ben Tameifuna, 4 Luke Charteris, 5 Manuel Carizza, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Antonie Claassen.

Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Julien Brugnaut, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Chris Masoe, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Henry Chavancy, 23 Johannes Goosen

Scarlets: 15 Mike Collins, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Steven Shingler, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Phil John, 2 Ken Owens (c), 3 Samson Lee, 4 George Earle, 5 Maselino Paulino, 6 Rory Pitman, 7 Aaron Shingler, 8 Morgan Allen.

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Tom Price, 20 Tom Phillips, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Steff Hughes.