Glasgow Warriors v Benetton Treviso, 4 April

First topic message reminder :

Glasgow Warriors v Benetton Treviso  

Friday 4 April
At Scotstoun Stadium, 7.35pm

Referee: Guiseppe Vivarini (FIR, 12th competition game)
Assistant Referees: James Matthew, Bob Nevins (SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)

Not on telly, innit.

A. Teams:

I. Glasgow

15 Murchie
14 Maitland
13 Bennett
12 Russell
11 Matawalu
10 Jackson
09 Pyrgos

08 Wilson
07 Holmes
06 Harley
05 Kellock
04 Swinson
03 Cross
02 MacArthur
01 Reid

16 Bryce
17 Yanuyanutawa
18 Low
19 Nakarawa
20 Eddie
21 Horne
22 Vernon
23 Jones

II. Treviso

15 Luke McLean
14 Andrea Pratichetti
13 Christian Loamanu
12 Alberto Sgarbi
11 Angelo Esposito
10 James Ambrosini
09 Tobias Botes

08 Robert Barbieri
07 Paul Derbyshire
06 Marco Fuser
05 Valerio Bernabò
04 Antonio Pavanello (capitano)
03 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet
02 Leonardo Ghiraldini
01 Matteo Muccignat

16 Giovanni Maistri
17 Alberto De Marchi
18 Lorenzo Cittadini
19 Corniel Van Zyl
20 Marco Filippucci
21 Fabio Semenzato
22 Alberto Di Bernardo
23 Brendan Williams

B. Form - head to head

6 Played 6
4 Wins 2
2 Losses 4
0 Draws 0
13 Tries 6
11 Conversions 5
15 Penalties 11
0 Drop Goals 2
132 Points 79
25 Avg. Age 26

C. Form - last season:

4/1/13
Glasgow Warriors 41 - 7 Benetton Treviso

27/10/12
Benetton Treviso 13 - 24 Glasgow Warriors

22/4/12
Benetton Treviso 8 - 13 Glasgow Warriors

Match highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKOmDSJpDV4

Watching that again... God, Sean Maitland is good.

Two tries from breaks initially made by Finn Russell, he is looking more and more like the real deal every game he plays.

Didn't think there would be highlights. Thanks very much for this.

I'm in two minds, on one hand I think that Russell should be kept for 12 for now to aid him develop however the on the other this team would tear teams apart:


1.Grant
2.MacArthur
3. Welsh
4. Gray
5. Nakarawa
6. Harley
7. Fusaro
8. Strauss
9. Matawalu
10. Russell
11. DTH
12. Dunbar
13. Bennett
14. Maitland
15. Hogg

16. Reid
17. Hall
18. Yanuyanutawa
19. Swinson
20. Wilson
21. Pyrgos
22. Weir
23. Seymour

I think if Russell were to start at 10, then neither Weir nor Jackson could complain - he has certainly been the form player out of the three of them over the past couple of months. If it was me picking the team just now, he would be who I started. Its also worth noting that he is only slightly younger than Harry Leonard and only a year younger than Owen Farrell and Duncan Weir.

It is still very early days in terms of his pro appearances and he could certainly do with adding slightly more bulk to his frame, but to me he seems a more rounded player than either Weir or Jackson.

It would be interesting from a Scotland perspective should he oust Weir and Jackson from the Glasgow team especially with the new coach coming in. Added to the fact that Canada and USA aren't exactly the Springboks and the All Blacks with all due respect and Scott is an experienced international player with a history of playing fly-half, in terms of being a Scottish international fly-half this is the closest he could get to being eased in.
He's definitely more rounded than Weir and Jackson, Weir still has a better kicking game but I think Russell is far superior to Jackson in most facets of the game.

Yeah Numbers, he is a very good prospect. I kept an eye on him when he was on the Macphail scholarship in NZ, he was voted the best player in the league he was playing in and Robbie Fruean was bigging him up on Twitter after they played together.

Regarding the Scotland issue, I think he needs to nail down the Glasgow position first and get as much experience in the position in the remaining games as possible - he really is very green at pro level. That being said, the pool of 10's at Scotland's disposal is so low and some of the players are so far out of form (Weir/Jackson) or not playing (Heathocte) that I don't think its an outrageous shout to think he could be included in the touring squad.

Great highlights.

I can't wait to see Maitland back on the wing in a Scotland jersey, with Hogg at 15 and Visser or Seymour at 11. That's a proper back three and make no mistake.

Russell and Bennett both standing up to scrutiny. Scottish rugby is better when Scott Johnson has nothing to do with it. Solomons and Toonie both better coaches.

I don't want to get carried away and say he's Scotland's answer to a long standing problem at fly-half, we've been there before with Godman, Jackson and Weir (and the latter two could still achieve it), but he looks very good. I also think that as things stand he wouldn't go on tour however he's Glasgow's form 10 and should he manage to oust the other two and hold his place even during the play-offs (provided Glasgow make them) I think he simply has to tour with Scotland.
I still want to see Bennett and Dunbar play in the centres together for Glasgow, their pace and power could prove impossible to live with.

To be the voice of reason, Russell has yet to play one single authoritative game at 10 for Glasgow. He looks a great prospect, but until he's bossing games at 10 for Glasgow, I'll holster the hype.

funnyExiledScot wrote:To be the voice of reason, Russell has yet to play one single authoritative game at 10 for Glasgow. He looks a great prospect, but until he's bossing games at 10 for Glasgow, I'll holster the hype.

I think we've all been holstering the hype but it's difficult if a Scottish ten can actually pass and kick not to get excited

funnyExiledScot wrote:To be the voice of reason, Russell has yet to play one single authoritative game at 10 for Glasgow. He looks a great prospect, but until he's bossing games at 10 for Glasgow, I'll holster the hype.

That's true fEs, and I have tempered my comments about his prospects with the fact that he is very raw. However, how many authoritative games have you seen Weir or Jackson play for Glasgow this season?  

I'm not saying he should be parachuted into the Scotland team as the saviour to our problems at 10, but if he is starting at 10 for Glasgow at the end of the season, he will have deserved a tour spot. Whether this is a indictment of our depth at 10 or a sign of a very good player, i'm not to sure.

I'm hoping our lack of strength at 10 doesn't result in us chucking a young fly-half in at the deep end against the SpringBoks and knocking his confidence however if he's deemed to be good enough by then surely he has to play.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Scottish rugby is better when Scott Johnson has nothing to do with it.

I'm considering having that tattooed in Mandarin on my left buttock.

That would be on the left buttock because the right one has, "I have seen the future and it is called Rob Dewey" in Arabic.

The highlights don't who Mad Mata's try saving tackle under the posts at 79 mins that led to the final scrum. Absolutely brilliant in terms of the ground he made up .

Niko does seem to be coming back into form at the right time in the season thankfully!

https://www.606v2.com/t53068-munster-rugby-v-glasgow-warriors-12-april

 

To my fellow comrades who haven't seen it;
Here are the highlight's of the Treviso game

Nice work, simply mesmeric

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Nice work, simply mesmeric

You are most welcome good sir! What really pleases me is the performance of the Weege backline! And what a start to the game!

The last time I saw a try scored that quick from the start (by a Scots pro team) was this day 2 years ago - Embra (Mike Blair) vs Toulouse in the H Cup quarter final and even that took a few minutes. A good day and coincidentally, also my birthday.