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Liam Williams to make URC season debut for Scarlets

24 Dec 2021

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Liam Williams will make his URC season debut for Scarlets this weekend when they take on Cardiff on Boxing Day.

The Wales international missed the opening block of fixtures after having his appendix removed, but after returning to action for his country during the autumn, the British & Irish Lion will pull on the Scarlets colours on Sunday.

Williams slots in at full-back in a side showing four changes from the team selected for the postponed Heineken Champions Cup tie against Bordeaux.

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Johnny McNicholl and Ryan Conbeer are named on the wings.

Elsewhere Wales international Rhys Patchell is set to make his first competitive appearance since October 2020 after being named as one of the backline replacements alongside Kieran Hardy and Ioan Nicholas.

Jonathan Davies captains the team and is once again partnered in midfield by fellow international Scott Williams.Dan Jones begins at fly-half, where he will be joined by British and Irish Lion Gareth Davies. Sam Costelow suffered a shoulder injury in practice, ruling him out of competition.

Rob Evans, Ryan Elias, and new Scotland cap Javan Sebastian form an all-international front row, with Sam Lousi and Tom Price filling out the back row.

Josh Macleod, who was denied a comeback last weekend, is set to make his first appearance since rupturing his Achilles in February.

SCARLETS: 15 Liam Williams; 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Scott Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer; 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Javan Sebastian, 4 Sam Lousi, 5 Tom Price, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Josh Macleod, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Ioan Nicholas

Unavailable because of injury: Ken Owens (back), Dan Davis (pectoral muscle), Tom Phillips (knee), Josh Helps (Achilles), James Davies (concussion), Leigh Halfpenny (knee), Corey Baldwin (foot), Tomi Lewis (knee), Lewis Rawlins (concussion), Harri Williams (ankle), Johnny Williams (calf), Joe Roberts (knee), Tyler Morgan (calf), Tom Rogers (hamstring), Sam Costelow (shoulder), Steff Evans (ankle), WillGriff John (ankle).

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Cantab 11 minutes ago

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mused 31 minutes ago

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Interesting take on the locking stable at qld. Who are you putting as the single #5?

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JW 35 minutes ago

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Down where? They certainly lost support through the Irish series first loss and coach debacle following that, and I wouldn’t be surprised of those are a few coming on here complaining about how bad Richie was in Black. They just didn’t see how good he was.

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JW 38 minutes ago

Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules

LOL Savea was garbage last year!

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JW 39 minutes ago

Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules

Yep, another problem!

I think he would have, in the instance I mentioned, which wasn’t changing anything other than correctly applying todays eligibility quidelines. Which is an arbitrary construct, as the deal likely would have played out completely differently, but I just ‘allowed’ him to have 1 year sabbatically for his ‘loyalty’, rather than having some arbitrary number like 70 caps required.

So if Richie had a 3 year deal, and the first year he was allowed to use him still, I don’t think he’d really not transition to Dmac being his main 10, as he’s obviously the only one he can use for the following two years, therefore likely his only real option for the WC (very hard for Richie to overtake him in such a short time). Richie would purely be a security net in a situation like I proposition where there are only small changes to the eligibility.

The system is not working well enough though, as we don’t have the Rugby Championship or World Cup trophies, do we? Well on that last question, that’s all I’m really saying but I would not believe a word this author says, so it’s entirely a ‘what if’ discussion, but if the author is right and now they are actually going to be more flexible, I think that’s great yeah. Ultimately thought I think those two players were an anomaly signing their contracts and futures up so far ahead, especially of when they were performing. Both jumped at the opportunity of good contracts when their All Black prospects weren’t looking that bright.

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mused 39 minutes ago

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Ya, that reds lineout on the weekend was a mess. But as a lineout jumper of absolutely no repute back in the day, I used to hate hookers throwing the ball at my hips. And that was before I had jumped…

Years ago, I would have said for Lancaster to stay away from the political mess that was RA. It seems different at the moment, but time will tell. Interesting turn of events if he gets the job. I’m not in a hurry for kiss to leave the reds. He is doing good things with this squad.

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