Scarlets have been rewarded for qualifying for the United Rugby Championship (URC) with the toughest possible match: Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

On top of this, the west Walian side will be without experienced scrumhalf Gareth Davies.

The 77-cap Wales international picked up a rib injury in the victory over South African side Lions – the win that sealed Scarlets’ spot in the URC play-offs.

Despite being back on the training pitch, Scarlets are expected to trust replacement Archie Hughes with a start in Dublin.

“He’s been an outstanding operator for us this year,” said Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel.

“But he’s going to struggle to make it this weekend.”

Peel did not rule out a return for Davies should Scarlets progress to the semi-finals.

“He was running this morning. One thing you know about him is that he won’t quit. If there’s a sniff of him having a chance to play, he’ll give it everything,” he said.

Peel said he was “comfortable with his other nines” and was full of praise for Davies’ replacement Archie Hughes.

“Archie over the last two games [in South Africa] has proved his worth,” he said.

“We’ve spoken a lot about Archie over the last couple of years, he’s taken his time this season and we’ve seen some steady growth in his game.”

With Leinster prone to rotating their large squad during the regular season, it is expected that the Irish club will pick their strongest possible team for this match, having missed out on last weekend’s Champions Cup final, having lost to eventual runners-up Northampton Saints in the semis.

Scarlets stunned Leinster with a 35-22 victory at Parc y Scarlets last month, although the runaway league leaders had made 11 changes for the visit to Llanelli.

“We’re certainly expecting a bigger challenge this weekend with personnel,” said Scarlets captain Josh Macleod.

“Yes, they’re going to be a different animal – we’re preparing for that – but we’ve built nicely as well.”

“The confidence is good, there’s no complacency, boys are still willing to turn up to work, train hard every day and continue to get better. At this stage of the season you can’t really ask for more,” added Macleod.

“We’ve got a changing room that are willing to fight for each other and when you get to the quarter-finals, who knows what can happen.”

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