Champions collide in Llanelli when two-time Guinness PRO14 winners Scarlets host the 2016 title-holders Connacht Rugby as both sides look to get their respective campaigns off to a flyer on Saturday. Brad Mooar takes charge of his first Guinness PRO14 game for a Scarlets side looking to improve on a disappointing campaign last time out as they failed to qualify for the Champions Cup for the first time since the inception of regional rugby in 2003. They host a Connacht side which fared slightly better last year, qualifying for the Guinness PRO14 Final Series for the first time since 2016, but came out on the losing side in the quarter-finals to provincial rivals Ulster 21-13 in a thrilling encounter. Scarlets may have disintegrated at the end of last season, winning only one of their final five Guinness PRO14 fixtures, but the omens bode well for Saturday as they have won 20 of their 30 encounters with Connacht. In addition, Mooar’s team have lost just twice at home to Irish provinces in the Championship since December 2012, although they were both Round 1 matches – against Leinster in 2013 and Munster in 2016. Kick-off: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli |17:15 (UK), Saturday 28 September How to watch: Live on S4C, Premier Sports, TG4 and DAZN Players to watch out for: Corey Baldwin (Scarlets), Matt Healy (Connacht) With Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes and Kieron Fonotia all away at the World Cup, 20-year-old Baldwin has a huge chance to make a name for himself at centre. After an injury-hit campaign in 2018⁄19, the former Wales Under-20 man will be hoping to return with a bang off the bench against Connacht by utilising his pace and strength combination to great effect. Connacht’s all-time leading try scorer Healy, one of a number of the Galway-based outfit’s Ireland internationals who were excluded from the national side’s World Cup squad, just keeps on going from strength to strength for his province with every passing year and his experience will be key in Wales. Key stat: Scarlets have lost just twice at Parc y Scarlets in the Championship since the opening weekend of the 2016⁄17 season, to Cardiff Blues in December 2018 and to Edinburgh in April. Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl, Ryan Conbeer, Steff Hughes, Paul Asquith, Steff Evans, Dan Jones, Kieran Hardy, Rob Evans, Marc Jones, Samson Lee, Steve Cummins, Lewis Rawlins, Tom Phillips, Josh Macleod, Uzair Cassiem. Replacements: Taylor Davies, Phil Price, Werner Kruger, Josh Helps, Dan Davis, Dane Blacker, Angus O’Brien, Corey Baldwin. Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran, Stephen Fitzgerald, Kyle Godwin, Tom Daly, Matt Healy, Conor Fitzgerald, Caolin Blade, Paddy McAllister, Tom McCartney, Finlay Bealham, Gavin Thornbury, Quinn Roux, Eoghan Masterson, Colby Fainga’a, Jarrad Butler. Replacements: Shane Delahunt, Denis Buckley, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Ultan Dillane, Eoin McKeon, Kieran Marmion, Peter Robb, Darragh Leader.
