Whilst being underdogs in France last weekend against high-flying Aviron Baynnais, the Scarlets would come agonizingly close to pulling off an upset before a late penalty from the Top14 side sealed a dramatic 17-16 win.
Round two brings a familiar foe in the powerful Georgian outfit Black Lion. After last season’s 23-7 victory in Llanelli, the eastern European franchise will be no stranger to Dwayne Peel’s side who will be looking to avenge the defeat.
Black Lion, however, will have their own ambitions this season, and after shocking RC Vannes in round one of the tournament, know that victory would put them one foot closer to an unpredicted shock progression to the latter knockout stages of the competition.
“They showed last year they are a good, well-coached team with that Georgia coaching group in there and have serious players and power to go with it,” said Phillips.
“We realise that home wins are important in this competition, and they have already picked up a home win so their confidence will be high.
“We are pretty disappointed that we came away with just the one point [against Baynnais].
“We realised it was a tough place to go, made a few changes, rotated the squad a bit and we gave ourselves a fighting chance to win with a couple of minutes to go.
“I suppose to come away from France disappointed not to get the win is a realisation of where we are.
“We are on the up, we are a team that is looking to go to France and win games, not just stay in games, but we also realise that you don’t go very far in these European competitions if you don’t win your home games.”
18 unforced errors from the Scarlets ultimately proved a decisive factor in a close contest but Phillips feels this time the west Wallians can learn from their mistakes to gain a positive result.
“It’s one of the things that stood out the most when we looked at our stats,” continued Phillips.
“Going away to France to a team that is going well in the Top 14, if you give away the number of penalties like we did you are always going to be up against it.
“Some are understandable, but the frustrating thing is, there were a lot we could have cut out, a lot of the cheap ones, a lot that piggy-backed them and gave them good momentum into the game.
“You cut that penalty count down from 18 to 11 or 12 and it is a different day at the office.
“It is definitely something that stood out and something we have spoken about as a coaching group and playing group as well.
“But we are in a good place, the squad is excited, the boys have trained well and are looking forward to a European game at home. It is a Sunday afternoon kick-off so hopefully, we can get a good crowd down here and build on the positives we have had over the last few weeks.
“Part of the reason the boys love this club is how connected we are to the supporters. We will be doing our best to make sure they have some good days out again and also give ourselves a fighting chance in two different competitions.
“We saw a couple of years ago, if we go deep in this competition, it really does drive excitement within the club and within our supporters. Europe is something we love, it is certainly special to the club.”
Skipper Josh Macleod is among nine players returning to the Scarlets starting line-up this weekend.
Regulars Johnny Williams, Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies, Marnus van der Merwe, Henry Thomas and Taine Plumtree are also back in side after sitting out last weekend, while Max Douglas and Sam Lousi are promoted from the bench.
Behind the scrum, the back three of Ioan Nicholas, Tom Rogers and Ellis Mee is unchanged, while in midfield Williams comes in to partner Joe Roberts. At half-back Sam Costelow partners Gareth Davies who has recovered from a knock.
Up front, Kemsley Mathias is joined by hooker van der Merwe who has overcome a hamstring niggle. Henry Thomas replaces the injured Sam Wainwright who is to undergo surgery on an ankle injury he suffered in the south of France.
Douglas and Lousi combine at lock, while Plumtree and Macleod link up with Vaea Fifita in the back row.
Scarlets XV to face Black Lion:
15 Ioan Nicholas; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ellis Mee; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies
1 Kemsley Mathias, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Max Douglas 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (capt), 8 Vaea Fifita.
Replacements:
16 Shaun Evans, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Archer Holz, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Eddie James.
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
