Hope and bravery key in Scarlets' resurgence bid

Nigel Davies says bravery and hope are key themes as he attempts to lift Scarlets off the foot of the United Rugby Championship (URC) table.

Davies took over as interim director of rugby just over a week ago, freeing up Dwayne Peel to focus more time on coaching.

Davies admits he was encouraged by Scarlets' showing at Northampton Saints as they bowed out of the European Champions Cup.

He now hopes they can take confidence when the league resumes this weekend, starting with Ulster's visit to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

"Being brave is a big theme for us in terms of everything that we do and providing hope through our performances," Davies said.

"I think we did that last week [against Saints] in a very short space of time.

"I showed a clip earlier this week from the coverage and the commentator said right at the end 'this is a brave Scarlets team and they've given hope'. To have someone who's not been in the environment all week say that about the team is quite a powerful message."

Scarlets make four personnel changes to face third-placed Ulster with fit-again Tom Rogers coming in at right wing, accommodated by Ellis Mee switching to the left and Blair Murray moving to full-back.

With Jake Ball (HIA) and Max Douglas (bicep) injured at Franklin's Gardens, Harvey Cuckson and Sam Lousi come in as the second-row pairing in a pack that also sees the return of prop Archer Holz.

Captain Josh Macleod will make his 100th URC appearance in the back row while Wales centre Johnny Williams returns after injury on the bench.

Scarlets starting XV includes all nine players included in the Wales Six Nations squad.

Ulster's matchday squad features 12 players named to represent Ireland international squads next month in the Six Nations and an Ireland XV team to take on England 'A'.

Head coach Richie Murphy, who has just signed a two-year contract extension, makes four changes.

In come lock Charlie Irvine, loose-head Angus Bell, winger Werner Kok and full-back Michael Lowry.

Ulster have won four games in a row, two in URC and two in the Challenge Cup, while Scarlets have won only two from eight League games before this weekend's match and a trip to Benetton prior to the start of the Six Nations.

"We're looking at this as a two-game series before the break, two games that we're focussed on getting results in," said Davies.

"Ulster have had some fantastic results, they've obviously won a lot more games than us and they've changed the way they play a little bit.

"They're a threat with the ball, they're not hugely dissimilar to Northampton in how they play and it's a team we haven't beaten for a long time looking at the stats sheet, but that's all in the past, we're focussed on the future."

Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, James, Hawkins, Mee; Costelow, A Hughes; Mathias, Elias, Holz, Lousi, Cuckson, Plumtree, Macleod (capt), Anderson.

Replacements: Van der Merwe, Morse, H O'Connor, Price, J Taylor, Blacker, J Williams, Page.

Ulster: Lowry; Baloucoune, Hume, McCloskey, Kok; Murphy, Doak; Bell, Stewart, O'Toole, Henderson (capt), Irvine, McCann, Timoney, Ward.

Replacements: Herring, O'Sullivan, Wilson, Sheridan, Dalton, McKee, Flannery, Postlethwaite.

Officials

Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)

Assistants: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Carwyn Sion (Wales)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)