The Scarlets host the Lions in United Rugby Championship in Llanelli on Saturday and the visitors are still looking for a first win of the season.
Scarlets v Lions, Saturday 11th November, Llanelli, KO 19:15 (South African time)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Gareth Newman (Wales) and Simon Mills (Wales)
TMO: Colin Stanley (Ireland)
Weather Forecast - Llanelli
Scarlets:
After 3 rounds of matches the Scarlets have 1 win and 2 defeats against their name and they have 5 log points.
Their tournament began on tour in South Africa where they were hammered 63-21 by the Bulls at Lofus and 52-7 by the Stormers in Stellenbosch. They returned home to open their account last week with a 31-25 home win over Cardiff.
At home to South African opposition last season the Scarlets beat the Bulls 37-28 and the Sharks 32-20.
Lions:
The Lions have lost all 3 of their matches so far and they have earned 4 log points.
All 3 games have been pretty close and last time out the Lions went down 15-10 away to Benetton where the handicap line proved accurate. In Round 2 they were edged out 17-16 at Edinburgh. Given around 12.5 points start on the handicap the Lions led 7-6 at half time and in a nip and tuck game Edinburgh got back in front and just held on.
The Lions hosted the Stormers in Round 1, they were around 5.5 point underdogs on the handicap and their late fightback from 32-7 down at one stage in the second half came up just short as they were beaten 35-33.
Away to Welsh opposition last season the Lions won 28-27 at the Ospreys and 31-18 at Cardiff and when they hosted the Scarlets they came out on top 32-15.
After this the Lions complete this tour at Ulster.
Team News
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies (captain), 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Vaea Fifita, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Harri O’Connor, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Steff Thomas, 18 Wyn Jones, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Ioan Nicholas
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tsituka, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Corne Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Rynhardt Jonker
The Betting,
Scarlets -5.5 points at 9/10
Lions +5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
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I handicapped this game Scarlets -5.5 and after opening -8.5 it is now where I projected it.
The Lions could so easily have been 3/3 but instead they are yet to open their account and this season could get ugly quickly. The Scarlets will be no easy task at home but if the Lions can take control upfront as I believe they can then they can finally land that win.
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BET: 3 units Lions win at 43/20 at Boylesports*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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