Peel was largely satisfied with his side’s 39-7 home victory over Aviron Bayonnais last Sunday and wants to follow that up with a repeat over the South African side to put the Welsh region in a strong position in Pool B.

“I think that Bayonne selected a very strong team to come here, so we knew it was a big challenge ahead of us and I was pleased with the reaction,” he said.

“Next week is going to be another big game. We watched Cheetahs and we know from their time in the URC (United Rugby Championship) that they’ll be physical. They’ve got a point to prove as well.

“In this competition it’s a great opportunity for them travelling over here and being on tour. You get that sort of bond and tightness when you’re on tour. For us, it’s a big challenge next week to face them. It’s another big game, but an important one for us.

“We will go there strong. We may make a few changes here and there that will suit the game, but we want to get on a run now both in this competition and also to springboard us into a big derby season.”

Peel was generally happy with his side’s defensive display at Parc y Scarlets in Round 1 but was probably more delighted with the five tries they scored against the French club.

“I was pleased with the defensive effort to be honest with you,” he commented. “We spent the large majority of the last 20 in our half and we fought hard to keep the line.

“They shouldn't have scored any points at all really. For us there was some ill-disciplined stuff early on and they came hard, especially in the set-piece. They put us under pressure and credit to the boys, they managed to keep them out. There were some really key turnovers for us.

“We scored some lovely tries too and that’s pleasing to see. From our perspective, we’ve been creating a lot and not executing. I think we executed especially in the first half.

“The first three tries were really nice line breaks to completion and that’s something we need to improve on, because we haven’t been that good at that. It was nice to see us dotting it down.”

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel predicted “another big game” as he prepares his side to travel to Parma in Italy to take on Toyota Cheetahs in the EPCR Challenge Cup on Saturday.