HC, Pool 2, Round 6: Glasgow Warriors v Toulon

First topic message reminder :

Glasgow Warriors v Rugby Club Toulonnais

Saturday 18 January 2014
KO: 15:40
Scotstoun Stadium Glasgow

Live on Sky Sports/France 2

Referee: JP Doyle (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Martin Fox (England), Paul Dix (England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

A. Current Standings:

1	Toulon	5	4	0	1	155	96	4	20
2	Cardiff Blues	5	3	0	2	106	129	1	13
3	Glasgow	5	2	0	3	90	115	2	10
4	Exeter	5	1	0	4	99	110	4	8

B. Form:

1. Glasgow

13/10/13	16:00	P2		Toulon	51 - 28	Glasgow Warriors		Stade Félix Mayol	14,145
20/10/13	14:00	P2		Glasgow Warriors	20 - 16	Exeter Chiefs		Scotstoun Stadium	6,047
6/12/13	20:00	P2		Cardiff Blues	29 - 20	Glasgow Warriors		Cardiff Arms Park	6,144
13/12/13	20:00	P2		Glasgow Warriors	7 - 9	Cardiff Blues		Scotstoun Stadium	5,429
11/1/14	15:00	P2		Exeter Chiefs	10 - 15	Glasgow Warriors		Sandy Park Stadium	6,978

 
2. Toulon
 

13/10/13	16:00	P2		Toulon	51 - 28	Glasgow Warriors		Stade Félix Mayol	14,145
19/10/13	13:35	P2		Cardiff Blues	19 - 15	Toulon		Cardiff Arms Park	11,573
7/12/13	13:35	P2		Exeter Chiefs	9 - 14	Toulon		Sandy Park Stadium	10,744
14/12/13	14:35	P2		Toulon	32 - 20	Exeter Chiefs		Stade Félix Mayol	13,567
11/1/14	16:40	P2		Toulon	43 - 20	Cardiff Blues		Allianz Riviera	31,170

 
C. Teams:

1. Glasgow
Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Sean Lamont, Alex Dunbar, Niko Matawalu, Ruaridh Jackson, Henry Pyrgos, Ryan Grant, Pat MacArthur, Moray Low, Leone Nakarawa, Tim Swinson, James Eddie, Chris Fusaro (capt), Ryan Wilson.

Replacements: Dougie Hall, Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Ed Kalman, Tom Ryder, Tyrone Holmes, Chris Cusiter, Duncan Weir, Richie Vernon.

2. Toulon

From following squad:

Forwards: Steffon Armitage, Bakkies Botha, Virgile Bruni- Craig Burden - Martin Castrogiovanni, Levan Chilachava, Xavier Chiocci, Pierrick Gunther, Carl Hayman, Konstantin Mikautadze, Jean-Charles Orioli, Andrew Sheridan, Juanne Smith, Jocelino Suta, Joe Van Niekerk.

Backs: Delon Armitage, Mathieu Bastareaud, Michael Claassens, Matt Giteau, Maxime Mermoz, Frédéric Michalak, Drew Mitchell, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Jonny Wilkinson, Rudi Wulf.

If I were Townsend, I'd spend my entire time crying, he's got two good fly-halves however they both seem incapable of playing well two weeks in a row and if one does well then the other one does not and vice versa. Eventually Toonie will have to bite the bullet and pick a first choice stand-off or this problem will continue to hold Glasgow and Scotland back, personally I'd choose Weir to start with Jackson to come on

Tbh, if we played like we did vs Leinster last year we could have won.

Toulon will have a tough journey with our friends in Ireland and then the other French clubs

Toulon has not impressed me so far from the matches I have seen. They look to be one dimensional and lacking in anything close to creativity.

They have a very good pack of forwards, but contrary to what the talent in the backline suggests, I haven't really seen much from them at all.

Admittedly I haven't seen all their games.

There problem is that their backs lack young "wow" factor. They don't have a Fofana, Hogg, Scott etc that can try new things. Their pack's good but they just lack something which genuine clubs have

Anyone know how Taylor and Brown faired for Sarries? Cowan got two for Irish which Low played in.

123456789 wrote:If I were Townsend, I'd spend my entire time crying, he's got two good fly-halves however they both seem incapable of playing well two weeks in a row and if one does well then the other one does not and vice versa. Eventually Toonie will have to bite the bullet and pick a first choice stand-off or this problem will continue to hold Glasgow and Scotland back, personally I'd choose Weir to start with Jackson to come on

Another good game for Tonks tomorrow against Munster and I see no reason why he can't overtake both Jackson and Weir, who both appear very flaky at present, for the 6Ns. What do we have to lose?

Shame about the result at the end. I was half watching the match and half doing other things so missed bits, but from what I saw, Jackson didn't look to be having a great game, nor did Weir when he came on. Low seemed to be having problems in the scrum as did Grant. Doesn't bode well for the 6 nations.

On the positive side Hogg seems to be back in form again and vernon actually did something decent when he came on.

Funny how the three teams behind Toulon neutralised themselves, Glasgow does the double against Exeter, Exeter the same against The Blues and The Blues the same against Glasgow (which still stinks...).

If Grant isn't performing well I'd suggest Dickinson, he's been playing very well over at Edinburgh!

Comparing our form against the teams that have already qualified and it's like night and day. We can only hope for the sort of consistency, execution and professionalism that Ulster has shown, for example. Bottom of the group again. We really need to take a long, hard look at ourselves.

Nematode wrote:Anyone know how Taylor and Brown faired for Sarries?  Cowan got two for Irish which Low played in.

Saracens put 60 points on Connacht so it's fair to assume they would have looked good. Kelly got just over an hour before Wray replaced him.

Taylor apparently looked like a hero in one passage of play - he was actually over the line and could have dotted the ball down himself but because he felt there was a man on, he popped to Strettle who scored the easiest try of his career as a result.

Jackson did nothing wrong yesterday and has . Weir's confidence seems off - but he put in some huge tackles for a wee guy - was it Sheridan he pushed over off the ball ? Low was poor and John Welsh should have started. Grant useful in the loose as was Pat MacArthur - who btw can hook and throw ! Overall the our scrum fell to bits. Fusaro should have got MoM for a real Captain's effort. We were so much better with Cusiter on the field. Hogg is back with a vengeance - 3 in a row he has stood out. Beginning to think Matawalu is a luxury we cannot afford and may now be our 3rd most useful Fijian player. Big Naka is tremendous and when JG comes back along with Big Al K -soon- we have a real useful set of locks - 5 Swinson and Tom Ryder got stuck in yesterday when he came on. Ryan Wilson put in a decent shift at 8 as well. Thought Hogg was the best back on show yesterday.

I watched the game when I got home from work last night. We lost, but there was acually a lot to be pleased about and that may well be the best we have played all season.

There were some really strong performances which have already been mentioned. Big naka is going to be some player, but just needs to learn to look after the ball a bit better, especially on a horrible wet, muddy Glasgow day. That will come, the coaches need to do a bit more work with him and in truth he has not had a lot of gametime since he arrived. He is only going to improve.

The backrow were outstanding. We keep talking about Denton and Beattie for the Scotland 8 shirt but Ryan Wilson cannot be that far behind. He may not be quite as destructive as Denton but he plays with his head up and got the ball away time and time again from a scrum that was under pressure.

The whole team tried to play some rugby yesterday, which was the right tactic against such a strong forward pack and on the whole it was done in a much more controlled fashion than the attempt at playing sevens that we saw against cardiff. To hold on to the ball for so many phases, so many times in those conditions was impressive. That we did not score more often, well perhaps we just have to remember who we were playing.

If they can take that kind of form and play that way back in the Rabo then the season has a long way to go yet. For sure there are still some problems, particularly at stand off. I did not think that Jackson played badly when he was on and actually got the line moving well. Weir did make some mistakes and looks a little short of confidence. I think only one of them will stay in the Scotland squad ( I would have said Weir, but now not so sure) and Tonks will bench to start with and possibly even take the shirt. The other needs to get the gametime with glasgow and get the confidence back.

Niko is proving as much of an enigma this season as he was last year, but for different reasons. A bit of second season syndrome I think and he is trying to hard. He will come good again as well. Look at Hoggy coming back into form, sometimes it just takes a little while to click.

We did not lose this group yesterday, but in the first game against Toulon and the abysmal showings against cardiff. I think we partially redeemed ourselves yesterday and now have the rest of the season to show the real Glasgow.

Thanks very much for that summary Gee.

We took a LBP at Toulon, which I thought set us up nicely for the group. We came undone against a young and hungry Blues side which we absolutely should not have lost either game to but it just goes to show that if you judge your opposition and execute a limited but effective game plan very well, you can win.

Toonie's coat is still on a shaky nail. With absolutely the same squad as last season, you cannot think it's okay if the team as a whole regresses.

How has Maitland been playing? I've been pretty disappointed in all the games I've watched.

Glasgow were unlucky to lose.  Toulon showed nothing in attack at all.  Glasgow gave them field position too much by making mistakes.  Glasgow played all he attacking rugby.  

Hogg looks back to form.  Weir seems to be playing himself out of contention for the Scotland shirt much to my disappointment.

Scotland should have had a penalty try in my opinion for the collapsed maul near the line with 10 mins to go - but JPDoyle didn't agree with me.  

Vernon - first pro game in the backs.  Looked the part.  Scrum stood up OK and were a bit harshly treated I thought.  By the end of the match Toulon had stopped trying to push them backwards.  The pack in the loose was immense - Toulon made nothing in their forwards  S Armitage had a good game tho for a fat lad.

Maitland - didn't get a lot of ball but looked dangerous with what he had

Its always hard when yo play all the rugby, score the only try and lose.  Still a decent performance and I suspect Toulon are the best team in the comp.  to win away in Glasgow on a wet pitch against a team who played so well is no mean feat.

JPDoyle - a good game I thought. No glaring errors. Controlled the game well. Matowalos yellow - a bit harsh? Could have been a couple more Toulon players in the bin as well

My goodness - the stats show how much glasgow outplayed Toulon - 400 m v 200 run with ball - apart from turnovers and pens http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/match/191741.html

Moray Low was poor, and whan Cusack comes back i wouldn't be upset if he is off to Exeter to be brutally honest. Kalman should have started imo and Welsh should have been in the 23.
Tom Ryder's rucking was usefull when he came on, one of the reason Glasgow didn't get turned over in those last 5 minutes.
I still don't get why they use Fusaro, the smallest man on the pitch as a crash ball option.

Was it a certain try when Vernon did his break? Can't quite remember, if so that's very frustrating.

TJ wrote:My goodness - the stats show how much glasgow outplayed Toulon -   400 m v 200 run with ball - apart from turnovers and pens http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/match/191741.html

Yep Glasgow was the much better team but for the scrum and hmmm nothing....

Edit: Nakarawa, 8 defenders beaten, thats crazy when you consider who the opposition was, should have gotten motm.

VinceWLB wrote:Moray Low was poor, and whan Cusack comes back i wouldn't be upset if he is off to Exeter to be brutally honest. Kalman should have started imo and Welsh should have been in the 23.
Tom Ryder's rucking was usefull when he came on, one of the reason Glasgow didn't get turned over in those last 5 minutes.
I still don't get why they use Fusaro, the smallest man on the pitch as a crash ball option.

Was it a certain try when Vernon did his break? Can't quite remember, if so that's very frustrating.

Looked like it should have been if the pass was timed right - but the pass to beat the last man would have been 40 m out - and Vernon did take the ball on a lot further and was offering the pass. 50/50 missed a try / made a good break.

TJ wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:Moray Low was poor, and whan Cusack comes back i wouldn't be upset if he is off to Exeter to be brutally honest. Kalman should have started imo and Welsh should have been in the 23.
Tom Ryder's rucking was usefull when he came on, one of the reason Glasgow didn't get turned over in those last 5 minutes.
I still don't get why they use Fusaro, the smallest man on the pitch as a crash ball option.

Was it a certain try when Vernon did his break? Can't quite remember, if so that's very frustrating.

Looked like it should have been if the pass was timed right - but the pass to beat the last man would have been 40 m out - and Vernon did take the ball on a lot further and was offering the pass.  50/50 missed a try / made a good break.

Thanks, could have been a cracking try... similar to Horne's against Northampton last year.

Was it not Lamont who was on Vernon's shoulder on 75 mins ?

Not sure who it was. Vernon dummied the pass a couple of times which got him a lot more yards. I think the cover would have got there if the pass had been made

The game is on youtube, search "RugbyVK"

Can I selfishly promote my new thread on the intl page?

It has a poll for a Scotland XV vs Ireland where you can select your ENTIRE team to play Ireland. The idea is a poll along with a written team will make it easier to identify the trends in fan selection.

Cheers

Namatode - after today's dismal outing by The Luvvies will Ford or De Luca even feature in the poll ?   

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Namatode - after today's dismal outing by The Luvvies will Ford or De Luca even feature in the poll ?   

I've put everyone in the squad in so yes, yes they are in. But Ford's played not half badly recently. This was a real wobbly game like GLA vs Dragons

Interestingly enough, Glasgow is the team with the most metres gained in the competition, most rucks won and most carries which confirm to me they are potentially one of the best team around.

Unfortunately, kicking win you games (moreso in winter) and Glasgow don't have a reliable place kicker.

VinceWLB wrote:Interestingly enough, Glasgow is the team with the most metres gained in the competition, most rucks won and most carries which confirm to me they are potentially one of the best team around.

Unfortunately, kicking win you games (moreso in winter) and Glasgow don't have a reliable place kicker.

Actually they have several and its not missed kicks that cost them - its turnovers / mistakes such as the long kick from Hogg that went over the dead ball line today.  If that stayed on the field or went into touch Glasgow would have been near their line not back defending their 22

  'The Luvvies' - fantastic! Not a bitter fool then 21st. Can't help admire a guy who is not afraid to make a fool of himself at every opportunity.

Cambo wrote:  'The Luvvies' - fantastic! Not a bitter fool then 21st. Can't help admire a guy who is not afraid to make a fool of himself at every opportunity.

I am an MFL fan and proud to be a luvvie!

Thought Fusaro was immense for the Weegies, and Swindon and Naka both made a real nuisance of themselves.

Matawalu is wasted on the wing. He's a scrum half or nothing. I'd personally start Cusiter and have Matawalu on the bench for impact.

Good effort Glasgow. Toulon are one meaty side.

Cambo wrote:  'The Luvvies' - fantastic! Not a bitter fool then 21st. Can't help admire a guy who is not afraid to make a fool of himself at every opportunity.

Oh ffs - this nutter is back .    Sad little man /woman that he/she is !

Noticing an awful lot of posters just joined the board and started making posts like these.  Cambo, guy called cface or something yesterday, Luck of the Irish (I'd put my house on it that hes not Irish with that name) and a few others.

Probably the usual pre 6 Ns wendyball thickoids joining the party tbh

Don't feed the trolls

Noted TJ

https://www.606v2.com/t51153-edinburgh-and-glasgow-heineken-cup-review#2482830

For those that are interested