Simon Easterby will lead the Scarlets against Harlequins © Getty Images

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Matches: Scarlets 22 - 29 Harlequins

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup | Heineken Cup

Teams: Harlequins | Scarlets

Harlequins make the trip to Stradey Park in the Heineken Cup on Saturday to face a strong Scarlets side including Stephen Jones, Sililio Martens, Dafydd James, Mark Jones and Matthew Rees, and fourteen other players who boast international honours.

Quins' England winger David Strettle, who will miss the match due to injury, is wary of the threat posed by the West Wales outfit, 'The Heineken Cup is not only a great indicator of how the club is progressing, but it is also a reward for the good performance that we put in last year, in order to qualify for this event." He said. "You don't get into the Heineken Cup unless you are a quality side, and Scarlets will be no exception.

"When you play the same Premiership teams each year you have an understanding of how the team plays, but when it comes to the Heineken Cup there are always a number of teams which you won't have faced before, and this will be the case of Scarlets.

"'As a result, you tend to change the way you prepare for the game in a small way. You end up looking more inward, play your own game and hopefully come out on top.

"I am deeply gutted to be missing the game, but I know the team is really excited about playing and looking to come away with a win'. The only change to the Quins starting line from their last Premiership game appears in the backs, where Charlie Amesbury starts on the wing replacing Strettle.

Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies is fully aware of the threat carried by Harlequins, "Dean Richards and his coaching squad have developed a very good group. They play with a real steely edge which perhaps the Quins haven't had in the past." He said. "They play a good brand of rugby, defensively they're solid and their results this season show that they've come a long way. Saturday's match is going to be a massive challenge to us."

Davies is confident that his side hav it within them to defeat Quins, and know that they can count on vocal home support in one of the final matches to be held at Stradey Park, he said, "We know we can benefit from the Stradey Park factor. We understand what a big crowd here can do for us in terms of intimidating the opposition.

"On the training pitch, our preparations have been good this week. Other than a couple of medium-term injuries I'm happy with the group we've had to select from for the Quins game; as a squad and as individuals I believe this group is developing and that we're going in the right direction.

"We were pleased with our Anglo-Welsh Cup result at Saracens last weekend. Although the performance wasn't quite what we wanted there were pleasing elements. Our defence went up a couple of notches on the previous two games and there were a lot of very good individual efforts. We know there are still areas to work on - and the whole squad is focused on improving. The Heineken Cup is rugby's premier club tournament and we can't wait to get started."

Scarlets: Morgan Stoddart, Darren Daniel, Regan King, Gavin Evans, Mark Jones, Stephen Jones, Sililo Martens, Iestyn Thomas, Matthew Rees, Kees Meeuws, Vernon Cooper, Simon Maling, Simon Easterby (c), Gavin Thomas, David Lyons

Replacements: Ken Owens, Phil John, Scott MacLeod, Nathan Thomas, Martin Roberts, Ceiron Thomas, Rob Higgitt

Harlequins: Mike Brown, Charlie Amesbury, Gonzalo Tiesi, Jordan Turner-Hall, Ugo Monye, Chris Malone, Danny Care, Ceri Jones, Gary Botha, Mike Ross, Ollie Kohn, Jim Evans, Chris Robshaw, Will Skinner (c), Tom Guest,

Replacements: Tani Fuga, Mark Lambert, George Robson, Nick Easter, Andy Gomarsall, Epi Taione, Waisea Luveniyali