Scarlets targeting five points against Dragons - Wayne Pivac
- Published
Pivac want Scarlets to be able to use the strength of their home record in the quarter-final
Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac said they will be going for the maximum five points when they go up against Dragons on Judgement Day.
A bonus point win at the Principality Stadium would guarantee a home quarter-final in the Pro14, where Pivac said they have a "very, very good record".
"We need to take the other teams in our conference (Edinburgh and Ulster) out of the equation completely," he said.
"So we make no bones about it, we want to get five points."
Scarlets are currently second in Conference B, just a point above Edinburgh, while Dragons are sixth having only won twice in the league this season.
Clubs that finish second in their conference will play a home quarter-final against those ranked third in the other conference.
The two conference winners will go straight through to a home semi-final.
Pivac said setting out that they are going for the bonus point on Saturday was "not about being smart" or disrespectful to their opponents, especially with the Scarlets still smarting from their Champions Cup semi-final defeat last weekend.
"We've set a goal... this is just about the reality, this is where we're at," he said.
"We're hurting, we want to go out there, we want to play well and we know to guarantee a home quarter-final, that's how we're going to play the game.
"If I'm in the Dragons coaching group, I would have worked that out myself."
Jake Ball dislocated his shoulder while playing for Wales against New Zealand in the autumn
Pivac said his side will be bolstered by the return of some long-term injured players for the quarter-final and the semi-final, should they progress.
Pivac compared second row Jake Ball, who has been back in training for a few weeks after recovering from a shoulder injury, to a gazelle and said he "looked fantastic".
"He's undergoing some more testing this afternoon, but the results are going in the right direction, there's just one area of the shoulder we're now concerned about," Pivac added.