LAST week’s win against Treviso has the potential to ignite our season and it’s down to us to build on the victory by putting in a big performance at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday.

It’s a relief to finally be able to write about a Guinness Pro12 win, and a bonus-point win no less.

It certainly wasn’t a perfect performance against Treviso and there are areas that we need to work on but we bagged all five points and have some momentum.

There has been a positive and confident mood in the camp for our trip to Llanelli and derby games are always special; they are best ones to be involved in and the atmosphere in the build-up throughout the week is great.

The hype in the media adds a certain spice to the game and you are going up against players that you know pretty well off the field.

I was on the bench against Treviso and it’s pretty nerve-racking to watch the game from the sidelines rather being in the thick of it from the off.

It does give you the opportunity to look at the game in a different way and perhaps pick up the odd thing or two that can help when you get on.

You always try and make an impact and bring energy from the bench but last week was a bit different to usual in that we had already scored four tries by the time I came on for Andy Powell.

I said in my first column that I knew that competition for places was really fierce and that I knew I wouldn’t start every week like I did last season.

That battle for starts can only be a good thing for the team and it should make us all better players.

It’s always going to be tough for me against two British and Irish Lions in Toby Faletau and Andy as well as openside Nic Cudd, who is on fire at the moment and the best player in Wales, if not the whole Guinness Pro12, at what he does at the breakdown.

But that challenge is something that I relish and it’s up to me to force my way back into the side; we will all get our chances and have to make sure we take them.

Once again we have benefited from a good week of preparation with seven days between the fixtures and no travelling.

We have spent a lot of time reviewing the performance against Treviso and also putting together the blueprint for the Scarlets game.

The technology that we now have allows massively in-depth analysis of the set piece, phase play in attack, defensive work and individual player summaries with training filmed as well as match action.

If you’ve been a replacement then it gives the chance to look a bit more at what the opposition have done in recent weeks rather than spending as long on your own performance and moments from your last game.

The hard work that our analysts do cannot be overlooked and it’s essential in order for the team to perform, which fingers crossed will be the case at Parc y Scarlets.

I’ve never won in Llanelli – our only win came at Stradey Park in 2007 when I missed out because of a calf injury – but hopefully on Sunday we will double our tally.