Return of the King puts home semi in coach's thoughts

HEAD coach Nigel Davies has urged his side to keep the good times rolling at Parc y Scarlets and book themselves a home semi-final in the LV= Cup.

The Scarlets take on Cardiff Blues tomorrow (3pm) only needing a losing bonus point to top Pool 2 and progress to the last four.

However, this season, instead of a neutral venue for semi-finals day, the two sides with the best points tally after the group stages will be guaranteed home comforts in the next round.

That target is firmly in the sights of Davies and his side, who are currently ranked second behind Northampton Saints going into the final wave of pool matches.

And with the Blues also fighting to maintain the defence of their Anglo- Welsh crown, it promises to be an enthralling preTwickenham encounter down west.

"We are approaching this game like a quarter-final," said Davies. "If we can win this we will probably get a home semi-final. The focus is very much on getting a result.

"Our Magners League form isn't great so I am sure both us and the Blues will be delighted that we have something still to play for in Europe and this is another competition with silverware at stake.

"It has been a long time since we put four wins together in a row and the fact that three of them have been away from home is a huge achievement."

Brilliant

Davies was set to name his side today with Regan King expected to make his much-anticipated first start for 11 months, while an another overseas star David Lyons is likely to return to lead the side from No. 8.

While acknowledging it will take time for King to get back to his brilliant best, Davies is delighted to see the classy All Black in the ranks again and looking to weave his midfield magic.

"It is really encouraging to see a player of that quality back in our starting line-up," he added.

"It will take a while, but he is already showing some great skills on the ball in the training environment.

"Your game is dictated by the type of players available to you and while Sean (Lamont) and Jon (Davies) have been a great partnership for us and they offer a certain type of game, to have someone like Regan back, someone who is a distributor, who sees the game, who is a great ball-player, just adds that different dimension again."

King could come up against his former midfield mate Gavin Evans, who moved from the Scarlets to the Blues in the summer.

Evans has struggled to command a regular spot in David Young's starting line-up, but is champing at the bit to be involved at Parc y Scarlets.

"It will be strange, it was strange just coming back for a press conference this week," said the Llangennech product, a member of the Scarlets side that reached the Heineken Cup semi-final in 2007.

"It will be a little bit emotional as well, I started my career here and spent a lot of time with the Scarlets and have obviously played a lot of rugby with the boys.

"It has been frustrating not getting regular rugby. There are top-class players in the centre at the Blues, but I have got to stay positive and hopefully I will be involved on Saturday."