Samson Lee will make his 150th Scarlets appearance as he returns to the Scarlets side to take on Glasgow Warriors in round two of the Guinness PRO14 on Sunday evening (5.15pm ko).
The tight-head prop has been in superb form this season and was this week named as one of 13 Scarlets in Wayne Pivac’s Wales squad for the forthcoming autumn internationals.
Lee missed last weekend’s last-gasp loss to Munster with a head injury, but has been cleared to play at Scotstoun as one of three changes to the Scarlets starting XV.
The others see Johnny Williams come in for Steff Hughes in midfield and Ryan Elias step in for club captain Ken Owens, who is named among the replacements. Jonathan Davies will captain the side.
Leigh Halfpenny, who kicked a record-breaking nine penalties in the 30-27 loss to Munster, again wears the No. 15 jersey with Tom Rogers and Steff Evans on the wings.
Williams will link up with Davies for the first time, while Dan Jones and Gareth Davies continue their half-back partnership.
Lee joins Wyn Jones and Elias in an all-international front row; Jake Ball and Sam Lousi are selected at lock, while Blade Thomson, Sione Kalamafoni and Josh Macleod — another of the Scarlets’ Wales call-ups — remain as the back-row trio.
The bench shows two changes from last weekend with Owens and Steff Hughes named alongside Phil Price, Javan Sebastian, Lewis Rawlins, James Davies, Kieran Hardy and Rhys Patchell.
Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney said: “Huge congratulations to Samson on reaching 150 appearances in a Scarlets jersey. He is a huge part of our squad here and a great character to have around the place. He has been outstanding for us so far this season and his recall to the Wales squad is just rewards for the work he has put in.”
On the challenge of Glasgow, Delaney added: “Obviously after the manner of the defeat to Munster, everyone was hurting, we all felt we did enough to win that match. But we will learn from that and are excited by the challenge of going to Scotstoun and taking on a tough Glasgow side. It promises to be a great game between two sides who like to throw the ball about.”
Scarlets team v Glasgow (Scotstoun, Sunday, Oct 11, 5.35pm)
15 Leigh Halfpenny; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Steff Evans; 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Josh Macleod, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.
Reps: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil Price, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 James Davies, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Steff Hughes.
Unavailable because of injury
Liam Williams (foot), Rob Evans (neck), Johnny McNicholl (ankle), Josh Helps (ribs), Daf Hughes (knee), Alex Jeffries (elbow), Tomi Lewis (knee), Steff Thomas (knee), Aaron Shingler.