THE Scarlets are confident new signing Jonny Fa'amatuainu will be able to play in their final pre-season friendly against Exeter Chiefs on Friday night after a delay with the Samoan's visa blocked his debut against Worcester on Saturday.

The loan arrival from Bath was forced to watch the Scarlets' 43-14 hammering of the Warriors from the Parc y Scarlets stands.

But head coach Nigel Davies insists it is just a matter of time before the dynamic back-row forward makes his bow.

"It was just a paperwork issue, the visa is expected early this week," said Davies.

Fa'amatuainu will come into a side brimming with confidence after the impressive six-tries-to- one victory with Davies praising centre Regan King.

"Regan has been going really well in training, he has been working hard on his defensive game and he put in some big hits out there, which was really encouraging," added Davies.

"Defence is an area where we want to move forward, we were far more aggressive than we have been for a long time, although we did set a target not to concede a try and that was disappointing.

"There are still areas to work on, but there were a lot of good individual performances. It was a positive first step into the season."

Meanwhile, the Scarlets' other summer signing, Gavin Quinnell, played for the Llanelli club side against Uwic as the region work on his conditioning ahead of the new campaign.

Davies is also monitoring the progress of wing Lee Williams, who fractured a cheekbone in a training accident, ahead of the Magners League kick-off out in Treviso on September 4.

Friday's home clash against the Chiefs will be a testimonial for long-serving lock Vernon Cooper.

ROBERT LLOYD