Scarlets make two changes for first derby of the season

Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac has made two changes to the side that secured victory over Benetton Treviso last weekend as his side prepares for the first Welsh derby of the season.

Pivac has retained the services of the majority of the side that secured a three-try victory in Italy last weekend and will be looking for a repeat performance to continue building momentum on the back of back-to-back victories over Connacht and Benetton Treviso.

Aled Davies comes in to the starting line-up instead of Gareth Davies as well as Morgan Allen coming in for John Barclay.

Scarlets and Team GB's James Davies will make his 50th appearance in Scarlets colours on Saturday
Looking ahead to the game Pivac said; "I'm sure you'd agree that slowly but surely things are building, certainly after the slow start to the season. It was very important that we got two wins from Connacht and Treviso and we were able to do that. Now we have a clear focus on Dragons before we move on to the European Rugby Champions Cup.

"In terms of the Dragons they're a very strong team at home. We have a lot of respect for them. There are a few players from the region playing here and they've talked about how proud they are as a group. They'll be coming here with one result in mind and that's to get a win.

"If we can get a result this weekend it'll be a good comeback from a slow start. Hopefully if we can do our part of the equation in the first of the Big Weekend we'll be that much closer to where we need to be.

"We take each game week by week, it's a big derby, we don't know how these things will pan out. Hopefully it'll be a game where both teams come with a positive attitude. We could be in for an entertaining night of rugby."

Scarlets team to take on Newport Gwent Dragons at Parc y Scarlets, Saturday 8th October kick-off 7.35pm;
15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens [c], 3 Samson Lee, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 Morgan Allen

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Luke Garrett, Werner Kruger, Rynier Bernardo, John Barclay, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Steff Hughes

Unavailable for selection: Rob Evans (wrist), Dylan Evans (shoulder), Emyr Phillips (shoulder), Tom Price (elbow), Jonathan Davies (rested), Jake Ball (rested)
Read more at http://www.pro12rugby.com/2016/10/07/scarlets-make-two-changes-first-derby-season/#c0k52KPVmVgYOWJd.99