Sitting at the top of Pool 3 with 14 points, the Scarlets will be looking to make it a clean run in the competition and with victory on Saturday afternoon the chance of a home semi-final at Parc y Scarlets as one of the top two best performing teams in the Anglo Welsh competition.
The Scarlets have seen off the competition of Leicester Tigers (31-3), Cardiff Blues (30-3) and London Irish (27-19) so far and come into the fourth round on the back of three wins in a row in all competitions.
The West Wales rugby region welcome back a number of their international stars released back from Wales to create an impressive bench with plenty of fire-power to give the Scarlets a host of options.
Stephen Jones, Liam Williams, Aaron Shingler, Lou Reed and Rhodri Jones all return to their home region for the fixture and join the Scarlets bench for the crucial LV=Cup fixture.
The Scarlets make only one change in their backs division from the starting XV of last weekend that beat London Irish 27-19 in a very physical and intense victory at Parc y Scarlets in front of an 8,000+ home crowd.
Gareth Davies starts at scrum-half with the centre partnership of Scarlets skipper Gareth Maule and Adam Warren united once again and ready to fire, with Aled Thomas in the pivotal role of outside half and pace on both wings from Andy Fenby and last weekend’s try scorer and man of the match, Vili Iongi.
In the forwards, Sione Timani and Damian Welch return to the second row and the Scarlets field an unchanged back row of Mat Gilbert, Johnathan Edwards and Kieran Murphy.
Head of Scarlets Rugby, Nigel Davies said: “This is a very important game for us – we’ve gained momentum in recent weeks and last weekend was a big result for the players who put in a committed performance against a full strength London Irish side.
“There is a real energy in the camp this week and we brought plenty of endeavour and spirit to our game last weekend and we know we’ll need all of that and more against Sale. We’re mindful of how much they want this result, particularly after losing last time out – they’ll want to bounce back at home.
“The chance of a home semi-final is huge for us as a region and for our supporters. A lot of the boys in our squad will not have experienced play-offs, so it’s a big opportunity for them as a group to show what they are about and they are really pulling together and working hard for each other.
“What is really pleasing is the strength-in-depth we have developing in our set-up – virtually everybody that comes onto the field performs for our shirt and there’s a huge desire and commitment from everyone to make the most of their opportunities.”
Scarlets 15 Dan Newton, 14 Viliami Iongi, 13 Gareth Maule (capt), 12 Adam Warren, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Phil John, 2 Emyr Phillips , 3 Peter Edwards, 4 Sione Timani, 5 Damian Welch 6 Mat Gilbert, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 Kieran Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Craig Hawkins, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Liam Davies, 22 Stephen Jones, 23 Liam Williams.
