Dominic Day and Lee Williams say last week’s win has lifted the Scarlets and despite being underdogs for tomorrow’s Euro clash against in-form London Irish, the Scarlets youngsters reckon they have what it takes to cause a shock.
Second row Dominic Day, 24, who is relishing his wider responsibility calling the line-outs this seaso, said the battle against experienced line-out operators like England international Nick Kennedy and Irish giant Bob Casey doesn’t worry him.
Day said: “Yes, they are obviously very experienced guys, but we’ve got to back ourselves and I’m positive we can get a return in the line-out.”
He added the victory against Brive had given the team momentum. “The win has really lifted us and we are going into London Irish with our heads held high. Brive had a strong scrum but we managed to get the ball away and we held our own. I think as a pack, we are going really well this year – the scrum has been as good as the line-out and the backs are playing well off it.
“The pressure is all on London Irish and we’re going to give it our best. We feel we’ve got a team that can go up there and hopefully get a result.”
And Day says he is thoroughly enjoying his rugby with the Scarlets this season: “I’m really happy here – just looking back to a year go, I never thought I’d be in this position now – being a big part of this team.
“It’s all about getting game time for the younger boys particularly, and we’ve got a lot of players in the squad – guys like Josh Turnbull and Rob McCusker, who are quality players and when they do get a chance they will come through for us.”
Head coach Nigel Davies, said: “When I came here last year, Dominic was nowhere really, he hadn’t been given much game time, but last season’s injury list created opportunities for him. We are seeing with Dom what you tend to see in lots of younger players, when you give them a chance and as a coach, show confidence in them, 9 times out of 10 it will pay off for you.
“He has grown in the role, his confidence has grown within the group and he has matured. He feels a lot more empowered within this group of players and it’s natural that when people feel they are really part of something they give a lot more to it, which is what Dom has done.”
And World Cup Sevens champion, Lee Williams, is he’s looking forward to another big Heineken Cup occasion.
Williams, who says he thoroughly enjoyed his try last weekend on the wing said: “I’m comfortable as a winger, I’ve played eight or nine times there now for the Scarlets – and I’m fortunate that five of those have been in Heineken Cup games. I’ve really enjoyed the big occasions like Stade Francais last season and last weekend against Brive.
“Nigel’s more than confident to play me at scrum half or wing, and that’s fine with me. With the help of senior internationals like Mark Jones and Sean Lamont in the squad, I’ll keep picking up a few tips from them and hopefully cement my place.”
Williams said the big test comes on Saturday: “We’ve haven’t had back-to-back European wins for some time now, which is what we need to do. London Irish played very well last weekend, it was a hard fought win and we know we have to take the game to them.
“They like to throw it around, and we’re comfortable with that – but they can also play close-knit rugby; so we have to make sure we can handle both sets. We didn’t take all our opportunities against Brive and blew three or four chances – we can’t afford to do that this weekend.”
And on the comparisons being made between him and Shane Williams, Lee said: “Shane’s obviously a great player, but I tend not to pay too much attention to what’s being said in the press, I like to keep my focus on things in-house and on my game.”
On Williams, Nigel Davies said: “Lee has got the ability to play in any position, and the fact that he’s a world cup winner at sevens is testimony to that. I think Lee has played some of his best rugby for us on the wing, he reads the game exceptionally well with and without the ball.
“He is gutsy and one of the key things is that he reads situations well – he understands the game. Some younger guys that come through can be a little robotic to start with and need to be told what to do, that’s OK to a certain extent, but you need players with flair and ability on the park and he is certainly one of those.”
Scarlets: 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 Lou Reed, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Dafydd Jones, 8 David Lyons; 9 Martin Roberts, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones (c), 12 Jonathan Davies, 13 Sean Lamont, 14 Lee Williams, 15 Daniel Evans.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil John, 18 Jamie Corsi, 19 Vernon Cooper, 20 Richie Pugh, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Rob Higgitt.
