Ulster Rugby v Scarlets

THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW… ABOUT THE SCARLETS !

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The club was officially rebranded as the Scarlets in 2008, but is inextricably linked with its original and celebrated rugby mecca, Llanelli in South Wales. When the Welsh Rugby Union proposed reducing its top tier of professional clubs from nine to five, Llanelli Scarlets and Cardiff stood firm, rejected plans to merge with others, and retained their stand-alone identities. The Scarlets officially represent the West and North Wales regions and occasionally played in Wrexham. Stradey Park was the celebrated home of Llanelli Scarlets and the historic ground staged its last game there in October 2008, against Bristol. The Scarlets are the reigning Guinness PRO14 champions (formerly PRO12) and topped the inaugural Celtic League in 2003/2004 – four points clear of Ulster. The club moved to its new state-of-the-art Parc Y Scarlets home in nearby Pemberton in November 2008. The current backs coach, former Welsh and Lions’ out-half Stephen Jones, is the club’s record scorer with 2,850 points.

Former Ireland skipper Simon Easterby is a former Scarlets captain, and was Head Coach from 2012-2014, before joining Joe Schmidt’s international coaching team. Scarlets has provided 40 players who have represented their countries at least 20 times. The Scarlets President is Phil Bennett, the great Llanelli, Wales and Lions out-half and a link with the club’s rich pre- professional history. Ulster and Scarlets have met competitively 39 times – with honours even at 18 wins apiece, and three drawn games.

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