{"id":345474,"date":"2025-12-13T14:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T14:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/345474\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T14:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T14:09:08","slug":"dwayne-peels-brutally-frank-take-on-playing-european-juggernaut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/345474\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwayne Peel’s brutally frank take on playing ‘European juggernaut’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dwayne Peel has not dressed it up \u2013 Scarlets<\/a> head to Bordeaux<\/a> knowing exactly what awaits them.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of today\u2019s Investec Champions Cup<\/a> round two clash with defending champions Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles, Peel was candid about the scale of the challenge after reshuffling his side following last weekend\u2019s narrow defeat to Bristol.<\/p>\n

The Welsh side have made eight changes, with an all-international front row drafted in and Max Douglas<\/a> shifting to lock as Josh Macleod<\/a> moves to blindside. Injuries rule out Tom Rogers<\/a>, Johnny Williams<\/a> and Archer Holz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a couple of key moments last weekend which we didn\u2019t nail, which on reflection was disappointing. It shows Champions Cup rugby is cutthroat, but effort-wise it was definitely a step in the right direction,\u201d said Peel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Bordeaux have is massive depth in their squad. They have a game of power, pace, skill and have world-class players.<\/p>\n

\u201cEuropean juggernaut is a term that is passed around from time to time and that is what they are at the moment. It is a massive challenge for us, but that is why this tournament is so special, you get to play against these teams to see where you are.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s important is that you don\u2019t delve too much into the footage of Bordeaux, you have to use a match like this as an opportunity to take your game over there and try and upset them as much as you can. That is what I am asking of our boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cBordeaux is a brilliant place to play rugby. It will be a great atmosphere, a big crowd with lots of Scarlets fans over there as well. I am looking forward to a fantastic occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scarlets team to face Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles:\u00a0 15 Jac Davies; 14 Tomi Lewis<\/a>, 13 Joe Roberts<\/a>, 12 Eddie James<\/a>, 11 Ellis Mee; 10 Joe Hawkins<\/a>, 9 Dane Blacker; 1 Alec Hepburn<\/a>, 2 Marnus van der Merwe<\/a>, 3 Henry Thomas<\/a>, 4 Max Douglas<\/a>, 5 Jake Ball<\/a>, 6 Josh Macleod (capt), 7 Dan Davis<\/a>, 8 Fletcher Anderson.<\/p>\n

Reps: 16 Ryan Elias<\/a>, 17 Kemsley Mathias<\/a>, 18 Harri O\u2019Connor, 19 Sam Lousi<\/a>, 20 Jarrod Taylor<\/a>, 21 Archie Hughes<\/a>, 22 Sam Costelow<\/a>, 23 Macs Page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dwayne Peel has not dressed it up \u2013 Scarlets head to Bordeaux knowing exactly what awaits them. Speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-345474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}