Dafydd James, the leading try scorer in Heineken Cup historyThese two Magners League rivals may be familiar in domestic competition but they have never locked horns in Europe before now.

The Scarlets won their last meeting 25-12 at Stradey Park, but don’t take that as a form guide as Munster raise their game for Heineken Cup weekends.


The defending European champions were awesome in the Pool stages, winning five matches on the bounce before coming up against a rampant Tigers team in Round 6.


They lost their proud unbeaten record at Thomond Park that night and now will be even more determined to show everyone they are still the team to beat in Europe.


But it will be no stroll in the park for the Munstermen when they travel east to West Wales for the Friday night match.


Toulouse, Ulster Rugby and London Irish have all left Stradey Park empty handed in a run which saw Phil Davies’ sturdy Scarlets team win all six of their Pool matches to qualify for the quarter-finals as No 2 seeds.


There is a briskness and self belief about the Scarlets this season. They look solid in defence and adventurous in attack. They will be very hard to beat on their home patch but their opponents are past masters at this level. 


This will be a close match that could easily go to the wire.