Yahoo Sports Lloyd replaces Costelow for Scarlets at Cardiff
United Rugby Championship: Cardiff v Scarlets
Venue: The Arms Park, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 12 October Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Coverage: Live audio and text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. Live BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru. Highlights BBC Sport website and app.
Wales fly-half Sam Costelow is replaced by regional and international rival Ioan Lloyd for Scarlets' United Rugby Championship (URC) derby trip to face Cardiff on Saturday.
Costelow drops to the replacements bench as one of three changes from the side who lost to Connacht with prop Kemsley Mathias and hooker Marnus van der Merwe starting instead of Alec Hepburn and Ryan Elias.
Centre Ben Thomas will captain Cardiff in the absence of injured hooker Liam Belcher, with Evan Lloyd also missing.
Efan Daniel wears the hosts' number two shirt as one of four changes from the side that lost to Glasgow with prop Ed Byrne replacing the injured Corey Domachowski.
Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt has swapped his half-backs with Ellis Bevan and Tinus de Beer starting instead of Aled Davies and Callum Sheedy while Wales flanker James Botham is among the replacements.
Form guide
Cardiff last week lost for the first time in the URC season, at home against Glasgow.
Sherratt's side won their opening two games, including victory at Parc y Scarlets last month.
Dwayne Peel's Scarlets side are yet to win this campaign, with two defeats following a 20-20 draw at Zebre on the opening weekend.
Scarlets, however, have won five of their last seven encounters with Cardiff and have been successful on their last four visits to the Arms Park.
Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt: “It promises to be a great occasion on Saturday afternoon with a packed Cardiff Arms Park and two teams that like to play attacking rugby.
“They will be hugely motivated and will bring a lot of physicality. We've planned on them coming here and being at their absolute best and we’re excited for that challenge.
“We played some great attacking rugby last weekend and I was proud of the way the team fought back despite being down to 14 men.
"This week we need an all-round performance and are determined to give our fans something to be proud of.”
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel: "They are always competitive fixtures, us against Cardiff, like the one at Parc y Scarlets a couple of weeks ago.
The Arms Park is a fast track and we always seem to have a great support there. All the west Walians living in Cardiff come out to support us.
"It is always a good atmosphere and a sea of red; hopefully it will be the same on Saturday and we can get a win from there.
"It is a good healthy rivalry, two teams who like to play rugby, it will be a good occasion.”
Cardiff are hoping for an Arms Park capacity crowd with only 1,000 tickets remaining.
Cardiff: Cam Winnett; Mason Grady, Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas (capt), Harri Millard; Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan; Ed Byrne, Efan Daniel, Keiron Assiratti, Josh McNally, Teddy Williams, Ben Donnell, Alun Lawrence.
Replacements: Daf Hughes, Danny Southworth, Rhys Litterick, Mackenzie Martin, James Botham, Aled Davies, Callum Sheedy, Gabriel Hamer-Webb.
Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Blair Murray; Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies; Kemsley Mathias, Marnus van der Merwe, Henry Thomas, Sam Lousi, Max Douglas, Josh Macleod (capt), Dan Davis, Taine Plumtree.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Alec Hepburn, Sam Wainwright, Alex Craig, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Efan Jones, Sam Costelow, Macs Page.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
Assistant referees: Mike English & Amber Stamp-Dunstan (WRU)
TMO: Keith David (WRU).
