Head Coach Wayne Pivac has made eight changes to the side that claimed a famous 15-3 victory over Leicester Tigers in the European Rugby Champions Cup last weekend.
John Barclay moves to number 8 for the Guinness PRO12 clash and will captain the side for the first time. The experienced Scotland international has led from the front in the region’s impressive European spell, with a try against back-to-back champions Toulon.
With eight senior Scarlets on international duty and a list of ten injured players Pivac has an opportunity to see what some of the region’s next generation have to offer.
One of the region’s exciting young talent who comes into the starting XV is Wales Under 20s full-back Steff Evans.
Evans has 25 appearances under his belt for Llanelli RFC and has scored 13 tries since making his Principality Premiership debut in 2012-13.
Gareth Owen and George Earle return from injury and take over from Scott Williams and Richard Kelly respectively.
Steven Shingler, who kicked five points in Scarlets’ 15-3 victory last weekend, takes the fly-half reigns whilst Kirby Myhill and James Davies move into the starting line-up from the replacements bench with Peter Edwards returning to the front row after appearances in the British & Irish Cup.
Second-row Joe Snyman said: “Zebre have definitely stepped it up, they came close to beating the Ospreys, who have been the most consistent team in the Pro12 so far. They are playing with a lot of enthusiasm and are the Italian team to beat at the moment.
”We can’t change our mentality or sit back, we have played well over the last two weeks, but have only won one out of two games.
“We really want to keep some consistency going. There have been a lot of changes this week with the Welsh boys leaving and some injuries as well.
“But we don’t want to use that as an excuse; younger boys are going to get a chance, some have been waiting seven weeks for this chance and the senior players are going to have to step up.”
