Season’s run-in will be a juggling act, admits Pivac
WAYNE Pivac has admitted the final weeks of the season are going to prove a tricky juggling act as his Scarlets side chase silverware on two fronts.
For this afternoon’s Guinness PRO14 clash with Glasgow, the New Zealander has made just two changes to the starting XV that beat La Rochelle last weekend, a victory that secured a European Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster on April 21.
Ioan Nicholas comes in for the injured Paul Asquith on the wing, while Steve Cummins replaces David Bulbring at lock.
As for Glasgow, they welcome back six Scotland internationals and include former Scarlets wing DTH van der Merwe, a try-scorer in last year’s Guinness PRO12 final, who has recently re-signed for the Warriors.
It is the first time in 11 years that the West Walians have reached the knockout stages in Europe and that presents a testing challenge, with this game being sandwiched between some crucial matches in the PRO14. With little to separate Leinster, the Scarlets and Edinburgh in the battle for top-three placings, the defending champions go into the clash against the Conference A pacesetters (4.15pm) with all to play for.
“Edinburgh are out of Europe so they have one direction to go and Leinster (who are top) and us have to juggle two,” said Pivac.
“You would expect Leinster, with two Italian teams to play at home, to come first and we are in a dogfight for second and third.
“Clearly, our preference will be to play at home where we have a very good record.
“Otherwise you are looking at a trip to Munster or the Cheetahs. We don’t really want to do that if we can help.
“We have said from day one we wanted to defend out PRO14 title, to do that we have to be in the play-offs, we wanted to do that on both fronts and we are still alive in both. We really want to do well in both the PRO14 and Europe.
“To do that is a real test on the squad.
“We are a little bit thin in the back three with well-documented injuries there, but that means there are opportunities for other players, we are in a pretty good space.”
Pivac added: “There are a number of ways to look at it.
“Do we rotate, do we rest certain players because there is a massive semi-final coming up? “From our perspective you also look at the training week, game day is just one day of seven so what we do with the others we see as vital to freshen players up and get them ready. “Yes, it is a juggling act. “But we will be putting out strong sides every game, we are not going to be throwing any game. I can make that quite clear.”
Glasgow arrive in Llanelli stacked with international talent and include Scotland stars Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Jonny Gray and Ryan Wilson in their starting XV.
Today’s match will also see Pivac pit himself against the man who is favourite to replace Warren Gatland as Wales coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, fellow Kiwi Dave Rennie.
“Dave Rennie is a very good coach,” added Pivac.
“I know Dave well and he has come into a side that has good history in this competition. They have won it recently, they are always there and thereabouts in the competition, they play an attractive brand of rugby, that hasn’t changed.
“They are flying in their conference and have the benefit of doing what we did last year. They are out of Europe so they get to freshen up a lot of guys. We have got to be aware of that, be wary, they will be a huge threat, obviously.
“But we have a proud record at home and that is something we have talked about.”
Presentations will be made at the end of the match to the players leaving the Scarlets in the summer, including Tadhg Beirne, John Barclay, Scott Williams and Aled Davies.
Teams
SCARLETS: L. Halfpenny; I. Nicholas, S. Williams, H. Parkes, S. Evans; R. Patchell, G. Davies; R. Evans, K. Owens (capt), S. Lee, T. Beirne, S. Cummins, A. Shingler, J. Barclay, James Davies. Reps: R. Elias, D. Evans, W. Kruger, L. Rawlins, W. Boyde, A. Davies, D. Jones, S. Hughes
GLASGOW: S. Hogg; T. Seymour, N. Grigg, S. Johnson, DTH van der Merwe; F. Russell, A. Price; J. Bhatti; G. Turner, Z. Fagerson, T. Swinson, J. Gray, R. Harley, R. Wilson (capt), C. Gibbins. Reps: G. Stewart, O. Kebble, S. Halanukonuka, S. Cummings, C. Fusaro, H. Pyrgos, P. Horne, L. Masaga.