Scarlets v Leinster (Sat)

Date: Saturday, 29 March
Kick-off: 1730 GMT
Venue: Stradey Park, Llanelli
Coverage: S4C & Radio Cymru

Coverage details

Dwayne Peel captains the Scarlets in the ongoing absence of Simon Easterby, whose knee injury may require surgery.

Wales Grand Slam wing Mark Jones returns for the west Wales side, while Deacon Manu is suspended.

Malcolm O'Kelly is in line to become the most capped Leinster player of all time should he feature in Saturday's tie between the league's top two sides.

O'Kelly is level with Reggie Corrigan, while fellow lock Leo Cullen could make his 100th appearance for the province.

Meanwhile Leinster are boosted by the return after injury of Girvan Dempsey for the trip to south Wales.

LAST LEAGUE MEETING 5 October: Leinster 23-52 Scarlets

There are 11 Ireland internationals named in the squad.

Director of rugby Phil Davies is cool on the Scarlets' title chances ahead of the game.

"It'll take a lot of application and effort to stay where we are, let alone climb higher," said Davies, whose team are 10 points behind leaders Leinster.

"We have to win all our games, but in the league anything can happen.

"We'll learn from this season, we're building a platform to be competitive in all competitions in coming years."

Leinster have won their last eight league games, but the Scarlets have won their last five Magners matches at Stradey Park.

Davies' team claimed a remarkable 23-52 victory in the reverse fixture in October - the Irish side's only loss to a Welsh region this season - and Scarlets back-rower Dafydd Jones is upbeat on his team's chances.

"For us to win the title Leinster have to slip up, but we could put a big dent in them at Stradey," Jones told BBC Sport Wales.

"It's an exciting time between now and the end of the season, both of us still have to play [third-placed] Munster.

"It's been a disappointing season so far, but a string of results could put us up there challenging for the title."

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Scarlets: Morgan Stoddart; Dafydd James, Regan King, Gavin Evans, Mark Jones; Stephen Jones, Dwayne Peel (capt); Phil John, Mahronri Schwalger, Bruce Douglas, Lou Reed, Scott MacLeod, Dafydd Jones, Gavin Thomas, Alix Popham.
Replacements: Ben Broster, Matthew Rees, Adam Eustace, Nathan Thomas, Gavin Cattle, Ceiron Thomas, Matthew Watkins.

Leinster (from): Brian Blaney, Leo Cullen, Keith Gleeson, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Trevor Hogan, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Cameron Jowitt, Stephen Keogh, Stephen Knoop, Ollie le Roux, Malcolm O'Kelly, Stan Wright; Michael Berne, Gary Brown, Felipe Contepomi, Girvan Dempsey, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Horgan, Chris Keane, Rob Kearney, Jonathan Sexton, Christian Warner, Chris Whitaker, Cillian Willis.

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU)