HEINEKEN CUP POOL 6
Venue: RDS Showground, Dublin Date: 19 December Kick-off: 1545 GMT
Coverage: Live audio on BBC Radio Wales & online, updates on BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and BBC Sport website

Coach Nigel Davies says the Scarlets must be more determined

Scarlets coach Nigel Davies admits they face an uphill task to regain the initiative in Pool Six after their 32-7 home loss to Leinster last weekend.

The Welsh region led the group prior to that game only to see the defending Heineken champions move above them, as did other group rivals London Irish.

Scarlets now face Leinster again on Saturday in a daunting Dublin trip.

"We'd put ourselves in a very strong position and we've lost that initiative now," Davies told BBC Sport Wales.

"We've got a very difficult task to go out there and get anything out of the game.

"But there is enough about us to go there and get something out of it but we have to be right on top of it.

"It's really about accuracy and a lot of individuals have to take responsibility for what they do on the field.

"I felt our structures were very good, gave us the opportunities to get something out of the game.

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"But ultimately the last pass didn't go to hand or was dropped and some of the decision-making around the kicking game was poor.

"If you look at our defensive structures we had people in places to make tackles who didn't make tackles."

The Scarlets were without the injured Morgan Stoddart, Mark Jones, Dafydd Jones, Matthew Rees, Regan King and Rhys Thomas last week.

The loss of such senior players showed as Leinster ran in four tries for a five-point win at Parc y Scarlets.

Those players are also unlikely to be available for the return match at the RDS Showground, while Ross Turnbull remaains suspended and fellow flanker Richie Pugh faces an assessment on his shoulder injury.

Davie is confident that his side will raise their game from last weekend but believes that another defeat on Saturday will not spell disaster for their quarter-final hopes.

"I think there's everything to play for no matter what happens in this match," Davies added.

"This is a team that's grown over the last four or five years, we're a team that's in year one.

"They have a mighty quality group of players, they have a budget which is probably considerably more than ours.

"But we have made the commitment to develop our own talent, it does take time and they will need to have those experiences in order for that growth to happen.

"Maybe two or three years down the line we will be at the level every week where Leinster are now."

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