MAGNERS LEAGUE - BENETTON TREVISO v LLANELLI SCARLETS
Venue: Stadio Monigo Date: Saturday, 4 September Kick-off: 1805 BST Coverage: Score updates on BBC Sport website, highlights on Sunday's Scrum V

The Scarlets moved into their Parc y Scarlets home in November 2008

Coach Nigel Davies wants his Scarlets to turn their home into "a fortress" as the west Walians bid to improve on a disappointing last season.

The Llanelli side were eliminated from Europe at the pool stages and were the Magners League's bottom Welsh region.

Davies' men lost seven of their 14 games at Parc y Scarlets last term.

"We only won 50% of our home games last season and that wasn't good enough," he said. "One of our goals is to turn our place into a bit of a fortress."

The Scarlets begin their domestic campaign at Benetton Treviso on Saturday as the Italian new boys make their debut in the Magners League at their Stadio Monigo home.

The Scarlets finished ninth in the Magners League last season and were hammered twice by 2009 European champions Leinster as they went out of the Heineken Cup at the pool stages.

For the first time in three years I'm really comfortable with the squad we've got Scarlets coach Nigel Davies

Now Davies wants his players to make the most of home advantage, telling them: "This season we've got to make sure we win the vast majority of our home games.

"If we do that then a lot of what we're trying to achieve will slot into place."

Davies is confident the Scarlets, who have undergone a transitional period since reaching the 2007 Heineken Cup quarter-finals, can be a force after keeping hold of star players Stephen Jones, David Lyons and Matthew Rees.

The Scarlets won the first Celtic League competition in 2004 and the Llanelli club are traditionally Welsh rugby's flag-bearers in Europe having qualified for three Heineken Cup semi-finals and four quarter-finals.

And Davies, who is tipping 18-year-old wing George North to make an impact, believes his region could finally compete with the Magners League's best again this season.

The Scarlets appointed one-time fans favourite and former Wales wing Mark Jones as skills coach and Wales forwards coach Robin McBryde as their pack coach in the summer.

He said: "For the first time in three years I'm really comfortable with not only the squad but the coaching group we've got. There's a lot of quality there.

"We've gone away from mentioning the youngsters as we've a group of players who have been exposed to the top end of the game over the last 18 months who are ready to move this side forward.

"We've also got a lot of experience players and have some exciting youngsters coming through - so the mix in the squad is the best I've known it for two or three years.

"I really believe this squad has got big potential and the players have got to start realising it. If we get it right we can do well."

And Scarlets wing Andy Fenby admitted: "We may have kept using the excuse that we were a young team last year.

"And for a start, we have got rid of that excuse and we are trying to be more clinical under pressure."

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