Yahoo Sports Peel expects Ospreys reaction after Booth exit
United Rugby Championship: Ospreys v Scarlets
Venue: Swansea.com Stadium Date: Saturday, 21 December Kick-off: 17:15 GMT
Coverage: Scrum V on BBC Two Wales, commentary on BBC Radio Wales.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel is expecting to face an emotional Ospreys side in Saturday's United Rugby Championship (URC) west Wales derby.
Ospreys announced the departure of head coach Toby Booth on Tuesday after their record European defeat at Montpellier.
However, Peel expects adversity to galvanise the opposition.
"Derbies bring a different type of intensity and emotion," he said.
"The news with Toby at the start of the week can work both ways. As you have seen many times when this happens you can have a bit of a bounce or reaction of some sort.
"If you look at their squad of competitive international players, they will be up for this, so I am expecting it to be a tight battle."
Booth had been in charge of Ospreys since 2020 and was due to leave at the end of the season.
During his tenure he guided them to the URC Welsh Shield in 2021-22 and 2023-24. He also led Ospreys to the Challenge Cup quarter-finals and the URC play-offs last season.
"It is never nice when a coach leaves his job like that and it is not for me to comment on any decision," said Peel.
"I just know he has done a good job there."
Ospreys said in September that Booth would be succeeded by former Wales wing Mark Jones, who has stepped up from his defence coach role to take over six months earlier than expected.
Jones is somebody Peel knows well, the pair having come through the Llanelli youth ranks together into the Scarlets side before also becoming Wales team-mates.
"What he will bring is energy and enthusiasm and will get them emotionally ready for this game," said Peel.
"Knowing him as well as I have over the last 30 years he will definitely bring those elements to their team and I wish him all the best in the role.
"He is a rugby man through and through and I am sure he will do a good job there."
Peel is focused on trying to get a first Scarlets away league win against the Ospreys.
"We have talked about that this week," said Peel.
"We have been trying to understand why that is the case and working out what we are going to do differently to get over the line this week."
This is in line to be the final west Wales derby at the Swansea.com Stadium before Ospreys move to St Helen's next season.
"There is always an emotion to these games and a lot riding on it in terms of local bragging rights," said Peel.
"There have been some tight games and others where we would not have been as good as we would have liked in Swansea.
"This year we are determined to go there and do well."
