Scarlets wait on Murray injury after Costelow blow

Scarlets are still waiting to learn the full extent of Wales full-back Blair Murray's ankle injury but fly-half Sam Costelow has been ruled out of their festive derbies.

Murray was helped from the field after suffering an injury to his left leg in the 78th minute of the 21-17 victory at Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

The full-back joined his teammates on the pitch after the game but is a major doubt for the 26 December derby against Ospreys in Llanelli (17:30 GMT).

"He didn't train on Monday and we have sent him away for a scan," said head coach Dwayne Peel.

"We will see what happens but he seemed pretty sore, so we will see how that pans out and there is no inkling yet."

Scarlets will hope for good news as they attempt to climb from 15th in the URC after a slow start to the season.

They host Ospreys, travel to Dragons on New Year's Day and then, after Champions Cup fixtures against Pau and Northampton, face Ulster and Benetton before the Six Nations.

Wales will also wait with interest because Murray has featured in all 14 of Wales' internationals since he made his Test debut against Fiji in the opening fixture of the 2024 autumn campaign.

Steve Tandy named him at full-back for all four November Tests and is in charge of his first Six Nations game against England in London on Saturday 7 February.

Scarlets will be without Costelow against Ospreys and Dragons after the playmaker suffered an an ankle injury in training last week ahead of the trip to the capital.

"Costy is not going to be available after he hurt his ankle in training late last week. It's a disappointing one and he will be out for a good few weeks," said Peel, who has handed the 10 jersey to Joe Hawkins for the last two games.

Captain Josh Macleod will sit out the game against Ospreys after the flanker went off in Cardiff with a head injury in the second half.

However, fellow back-row forward Taine Plumtree is back in the mix after being out since suffering a rib injury for Wales against South Africa in November.

Ospreys are sweating on the availability of Wales loose-head prop Gareth Thomas.

The front-rower was given a down week when his teammates were preparing to face Montauban in the Challenge Cup after his autumn efforts.

However, he suffered a calf niggle in training and sat out last weekend's URC loss to Munster in Bridgend.

"He is struggling a little bit and we are tracking how he is going," said head coach Mark Jones.

"We are picking from a fairly healthy squad, which is positive. We will need the squad through this period because the games are physical by nature because they are derbies."

Scarlets and Ospreys name their teams at midday on Christmas Eve.