Munster have not lost to the Welsh Region since March 2007 and will be looking to maintain their exceptional record whilst second placed Scarlets will be aiming to grab valuable points on the road and close the gap on leaders Ulster.
With just seven points between second placed Scarlets and sixth placed Leinster, the race for the top four play-off places continues with crucial points on offer in the next fortnight.
Munster have won their last three games in all competitions with their only home defeat in the PRO12 since October 2011 being a 18-9 defeat to Leinster at Thomond Park on March 31.
The Scarlets have won their last three matches in the RaboDirect PRO12 and are unbeaten in their last four encounters with Irish provinces in the competition.
Head coach Simon Easterby fields an exciting mix of experience, flair and ambitious up-and-coming talent in his starting XV with a return to regional action for Morgan Stoddart at full-back following Liam Williams’ call up to replace his injured Scarlets team-mate George North in the Wales side.
The centre partnership remains the same with Gareth Maule linking up with former Osprey Gareth Owen to create an impressive back line with Stoddart, Andy Fenby and Kristian Phillips completing the back three.
Aled Thomas, who showed strong form with the boot last weekend, starts at outside-half with Gareth Davies back at scrum-half.
Kirby Myhill and Samson Lee are released back from Wales’ training squad this weekend, adding some youthful power and energy to the Scarlets bench while South African signing George Earle moves from the second row to cover the back row.
Easterby says his side fully understand the importance of the next two league games in the context of their ambitions for a play-off place later next year.
“These games can cement positions later on and picking up points on the road will be valuable – the top six is very tight again already with Ulster, ourselves, Glasgow, Munster, the Ospreys and Leinster all in the race,” he said.
“We know these teams will all be very competitive and challenging opponents in these next two rounds regardless of the number of internationals that are missing.
“Yes we’re hit fairly hard from the number of international call-ups with up to 15 players away from our squad at the moment but this is when our wide squad players really step-up and the challenge of beating Munster on their home turf is one the boys are looking forward to.
“We know they’re a good team without their front line players – they have a strong team mentality and know how to win matches even when they’re not on the top of their game.
“We go there with positive momentum after last week, our scrum was very positive and we played some good rugby in the second half and we have the sharp focus in that there are 10 points on offer this week and next and that will set us up nicely if we can deliver strong performances on the day and achieve two big results against tough opposition.”
Scarlets: 15 Morgan Stoddart 14 Nick Reynolds, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Phil John, 2 Emyr Phillips, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 4 Jake Ball, 5 Richard Kelly, 6 George Earle, 7 Johnathan Edwards (c), 8 Craig Price.
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Shaun Hopkins, Samson Lee, Johan Snyman, Dan Thomas, Rhodri Williams, Dan Newton, Adam Warren.
