Scarlets play Dragons in friendly
THE Dragons will take on the Scarlets this week and fans will be able to watch the game live.
The match is being staged at Rodney Parade on Friday, with a noon kick-off, and the plan is to live stream it.
There are no Guinness PRO14 matches this weekend, with the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals taking centre stage.
So the two regions have taken the opportunity to fit in a friendly ahead of the PRO14 resuming next week.
It is being labelled as an A-team fixture, but it will give a run-out to a number of players who will be used during the international period, with so many star names away on Test duty.
The Scarlets are supplying no fewer than 13 players to Wales’s autumn squad, while Blade Thomson and Tevita Ratuva have been called up by Scotland and Fiji respectively.
In addition, Tongan lock Sam Lousi is facing a ban following his sending off against Glasgow on Sunday, his second red card this year.
Glenn Delaney’s team also have Welsh internationals Johnny Mcnicholl and
Aaron Shingler on the injured list.
For their part, the Dragons have five players in Wayne Pivac’s Wales party: Nick Tompkins, Leon Brown, Aaron Wainwright, Ross Moriarty and Jonah Holmes.
So for both regions it’s a chance to look at some squad players who haven’t had much rugby over the past seven months.
There could possibly be a return for the Scarlets’ Wales prop Rob Evans, who has been sidelined with a neck problem.
Details are currently being finalised over how the match will be live streamed.
When the Ospreys took on the Scarlets in an A game in Llanelli last month it wasn’t shown live. That fixture saw a number of talented youngsters put their hands up and this will be another opportunity to cast an eye over new faces while testing out squad depth.
Dean Ryan’s Dragons then resume their PRO14 campaign with a testing trip to Ulster on October 25, while the Scarlets are away to Benetton a couple of days earlier, looking for a first league win of the season following defeats to Munster and Glasgow.