Glasgow Warriors v Scarlets, 9 January

                
Glasgow Warriors v Scarlets
9 January 2015
KO: 19:35
Scotstoun Stadium

Live on BBC Alba/BBC Wales

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 65th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Andrew McMenemy, Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Montgomery (SRU)
TMO: David Changleng (SRU)

A. Teams:

I. Glasgow Warriors

15. Peter Murchie
14. Tommy Seymour
13. Alex Dunbar
12. Peter Horne
11. Sean Lamont
10. Finn Russell
09. Niko Matawalu
 
01. Jerry Yanuyanutawa
02. Pat MacArthur
03. Mike Cusack
04. Tim Swinson
05. Jonny Gray
06. Leone Nakarawa
07. Ryan Wilson
08. Josh Strauss (Captain)
 
16. Fraser Brown
17. Ryan Grant
18. Euan Murray
19. James Eddie
20. Will Bordill
21. Ali Price
22. James Downey
23. DTH van der Merwe
 
II. Scarlets

15 Liam Williams
14 Hadleigh Parkes
13 Regan King
12 Scott Williams (c)
11 Michael Tagicakibau
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Aled Davies

1 Rob Evans
2 Ryan Elias
3 Jacobie Adriaanse
4 Jake Ball
5 Johan Snyman
6 Aaron Shingler
7 John Barclay
8 Rob McCusker

16 Torin Myhill
17 Wyn Jones
18 Peter Edwards
19 George Earle
20 Lewis Rawlins
21 Gareth Davies
22 Steven Shingler
23 Jordan Williams

B. Form - head to head:

23 Played 23
12 Wins 11
11 Losses 12
0 Draws 0
56 Tries 53
39 Conversions 26
52 Penalties 62
2 Drop Goals 1
520 Points 506
25 Avg. Age 24

C. Form - recent:

Fri 21 Nov 2014
Scarlets 19 - 9 Glasgow Warriors
Parc y Scarlets

Sat 22 Mar 2014
Glasgow Warriors 14 - 6 Scarlets
Scotstoun Stadium

Sat 5 Oct 2013
Scarlets 12 - 17 Glasgow Warriors
Parc y Scarlets

So, what will the Magic Tombola cough up this week?
New front row; Grant- WeePee- The Mighty Coo
Nasty second row; Swinson- Ryder ( Naka and Gray both need a rest, Big Al looked ineffective against the Luvvies)
Back row to deal with Barcs (without; Bluto, Fozzie and Harley); Ashe-Wilson- Holmes
Scrummie who is neither Fijian, mental nor prone to running sideways from every ruck bar one were he scores a solo try,  Henners Piecrust
Stand off who understands that on a wet and windy night in Llanelli you need to play for territory (obviously I am fully cogniscent of the fact that we are playing at Scotstoun but the weatherforecast is, "Looking like a valleys' summer; wet, windy and miserable.There's lovely!") - not Dancer
A 12 called Alex Dunbar- actually he probably is due a rest so Downey (remember him?)
Big strong 13 who can tackle and crash it to them- Richie Vee
Back three- three blokes who are willing to run it back at them all night long, my preference would be Schlong, Tennessee Tam and Hogg.
We looked very tired against the Luvvies so I think there need to be changes. We also need to win, but 3-0 would be enough. Just don't get manshamed in the pack and show some desire everywhere else.

Very good performance by Scarlets yesterday. They have put in a few very classy games this season. Won't be an easy game for The Weegies.

I am looking forward to this one, as I am going, first game at Scotstoun, can't wait. Glasgow need to play an awful lot better than the last two games though. They were lucky the way the results went that they have not fallen behind, in all honesty they deserved to. Hope they can take advantage of their lifeline and get back on track!

jimbopip wrote:So, what will the Magic Tombola cough up this week?
New front row; Grant- WeePee- The Mighty Coo
Nasty second row; Swinson- Ryder ( Naka and Gray both need a rest, Big Al looked ineffective against the Luvvies)
Back row to deal with Barcs (without; Bluto, Fozzie and Harley); Ashe-Wilson- Holmes
Scrummie who is neither Fijian, mental nor prone to running sideways from every ruck bar one were he scores a solo try,  Henners Piecrust
Stand off who understands that on a wet and windy night in Llanelli you need to play for territory- not Dancer
A 12 called Alex Dunbar- actually he probably is due a rest so Downey (remember him?)
Big strong 13 who can tackle and crash it to them- Richie Vee
Back three- three blokes who are willing to run it back at them all night long, my preference would be Schlong, Tennessee Tam and Hogg.
We looked very tired against the Luvvies so I think there need to be changes. We also need to win, but 3-0 would be enough. Just don't get manshamed in the pack and show some desire everywhere else.

Hope you are not heading to South Wales to watch the game!

Demo, tempted but probably not: by the time I clocked off on Friday the roads would be chocker.

Wait a minute Demo, old boy, are you saying (a) Llanelli is no longer home to the Scarlets or (b) it's a personal thing: you just don't want me in South Wales? The way things are going I'll need to go to Pukekohe to find someone willing to have a pint with me.

Er no Jimbo, the game's at Scotstoun. I know the manshaming at Murrayfield didn't go down well, but I thought you might have sobered up by now.

justified sinner wrote:Er no Jimbo, the game's at Scotstoun. I know the manshaming at Murrayfield didn't go down well, but I thought you might have sobered up by now.

Pleased to hear that as I have a plane ticket and a match ticket bought!

Ah right Ted, so you are. Scotstoun eh? That'll teach me to drink with Schiz.

justified sinner wrote:Er no Jimbo, the game's at Scotstoun. I know the manshaming at Murrayfield didn't go down well, but I thought you might have sobered up by now.

Beat me to it!

Look I've been under a lot of stress lately. This sort of thing has never happened to me before. Apparently it happens to lots of men all the time.

Just don't take over from Putin in Russia then. Nukes aren't big and aren't clever.

Edit: OK they are big, but not clever.

Right then. Read an amazing statistic in the offy match preview which said that Scarlets haven't won in Glasgow for more than 10 years - however, given that they've already beaten us this season, that has to count for precisely bugger all.

Priestland was terrific against the Ospreys and we have to shut him down. Worryingly, aside from Scott Williams the other stand-out player in that game was one of our favourite sons, young John Adam Barclay. Given that Fusaro is also out, we might struggle a little at the breakdown.

Rob Harley being out will be a huge loss for us. What I'm hoping is that we'll see something like 6 Strauss 7 Holmes 8 Ashe.

I see that Scarlets will be missing Rhodri Jones and Kirby Myhill, so if we can put Grant/Reid, Hall and Murray out there, we should look to mash their front row over the full 80.

Edit: I see that we have the pleasure of being 'instructed' by Clownshoes.
That should render the match fairly unwatcheable from the outset.

George Carlin wrote:
I see that Scarlets will be missing Rhodri Jones and Kirby Myhill, so if we can put Grant/Reid, Hall and Murray out there, we should look to mash their front row over the full 80.

Scarlets will still have Samson Lee, no? Rob Evans their loosehead has been causing problems to any TH he has faced recently, Adriaanse is also a great scrummaging TH. Unless Glasgow unleash the Coo and he finds his best form from 2012 Glasgow will be lucky to get parity. I hope Welsh will be rested as he will have to play a lot during the forthcoming sundays european games. Agreed that Hall is by far the best option for scrum time.

VinceWLB wrote:

George Carlin wrote:
I see that Scarlets will be missing Rhodri Jones and Kirby Myhill, so if we can put Grant/Reid, Hall and Murray out there, we should look to mash their front row over the full 80.

Scarlets will still have Samson Lee, no? Rob Evans their loosehead has been causing problems to any TH he has faced recently, Adriaanse is also a great scrummaging TH. Unless Glasgow unleash the Coo and he finds his best form from 2012 Glasgow will be lucky to get parity. I hope Welsh will be rested as he will have to play a lot during the forthcoming sundays european games. Agreed that Hall is by far the best option for scrum time.

I am not clear where we will be come scrum time. We did very well against Bath, Toulouse and Munster recently, only to get squished against Edinburgh. Weird.

George Carlin wrote:

I see that Scarlets will be missing Rhodri Jones and Kirby Myhill, so if we can put Grant/Reid, Hall and Murray out there, we should look to mash their front row over the full 80.

To be fair, Murray and Hall (hooked at half time) were awful against Edinburgh.

As long as you don't start Kellock you should have enough!

We still have our 1st choice props available on both sides, after that we're missing both 2nd choice props in Rhodri Jones and Phil John but 3rd choice cover in Wyn Jones and Peter Edwards have done ok so far when called upon. Its at hooker where we are already down to starting with 4th choice as we are missing Ken Owens, Emyr Phillips and Kirby Myhill, in saying that when Ryan Elias came on against the Ospreys he made some great breaks so maybe letting another local youngster have his chance could pay dividends again.

The weather is looking like it is going to be awful. This match has got tight, forward orientated battle written all over it. Not expecting a five try bonus point thriller here at all.

Glasgow need to revert to type and make this horrible and physical, and give not an inch on the advantage line. I was surprised by how flimsy Glasgow were against Edinburgh. Visser scored two tries without a finger being laid on him.

1.Reid 2.Brown 3.Cusack 4.Gray 5.Naka 6.Wilson 7.Holmes 8.Ashe 9.Pyrgos 10.Weir 11.Lamont 12.Downey 13.Vernon 14.Maitland 15.Hogg

Something like that.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Glasgow need to revert to type and make this horrible and physical, and give not an inch on the advantage line. I was surprised by how flimsy Glasgow were against Edinburgh. Visser scored two tries without a finger being laid on him.

1.Reid 2.Brown 3.Cusack 4.Gray 5.Naka 6.Wilson 7.Holmes 8.Ashe 9.Pyrgos 10.Weir 11.Lamont 12.Downey 13.Vernon 14.Maitland 15.Hogg

Something like that.

I don't think Ashe or Weir are likely to be fit so unlikely to see them. I think we may well see Cussack, but more likely off the bench, they are having some problems in the front row with injuries so squeezing them when they bring on their subs could be a good tactic.

This could be a game made for Downey, whom we have seen very little of this year, which is a little surprising given his pedigree, I don't know what to read into that. Also in a howling monsoon, may be a case for the safer hands of Murchie over Hogg. Going to be an interesting selection, especially with the 2 must win European games coming up. Strauss does look like he needs a rest, this would be the only chance to do it.

If Ashe isn't fit then Eddie could play 6 (or Swinson given the conditions) with Wilson at 8. Shame if Weir can't make it as he'd do a better job in the conditions. Horne at 10 could be an option, with Pyrgos or Hogg taking the kicks.

Yay Samson Lee is now on the injury list, although Myhill will be on the bench with Ryan Ellias starting

So going by that I assume our team will be

Sanjay, Tagi, King, Scott, Parkes, Rhys, Cawdor;
Rob Evs, Ellias, Edwards, Ball, Snyman, Shingler, Barclay, McCusker
(Bench-: Torin Myhill, W Jones, B Leung, Earle, Boyd; A Davies, Shingler, J Williams)

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Yay Samson Lee is now on the injury list, although Myhill will be on the bench with Ryan Ellias starting

So going by that I assume our team will be

Sanjay, Tagi, King, Scott, Parkes, Rhys, Cawdor;
Rob Evs, Ellias, Edwards, Ball, Snyman, Shingler, Barclay, McCusker
(Bench-: Torin Myhill, W Jones, B Leung, Earle, Boyd; A Davies, Shingler, J Williams)

Where is Adriaanse? i rate him higher than Rhodri Jones in terms of pure scrummaging. He is being totally wasted at the Scarlets.

Vince, he's been injured for a while, and hasn't featured since being fit. Really not too sure why

Just seen the run ins for the top 5 sides.

Glasgow need to find some form quickly - they have the worst run in and will lose the most players during the 6N

Glasgow Twitter feed saying there's big news in the Glasgow team announcement - Coo back?

Well they certainly need him. It comes to something when your front row gets manshamed by the Edinburgh pack.

Coo starting at tighthead!

15. Peter Murchie
14. Tommy Seymour
13. Alex Dunbar
12. Peter Horne
11. Sean Lamont
10. Finn Russell
9. Niko Matawalu

1. Jerry Yanuyanutawa
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Mike Cusack
4. Tim Swinson
5. Jonny Gray
6. Leone Nakarawa
7. Ryan Wilson
8. Josh Strauss (Captain)

Replacements

16. Fraser Brown
17. Ryan Grant
18. Euan Murray
19. James Eddie
20. Will Bordill
21. Ali Price
22. James Downey
23. DTH van der Merwe

Not available due to injury/illness: Adam Ashe (neck), Mark Bennett (leg), Kevin Bryce (shin), Rossouw de Klerk (foot), Chris Fusaro (ankle), Rob Harley (leg), Stuart Hogg (leg), Tyrone Holmes (eye/face), Lee Jones (ankle), Murray McConnell (leg), Henry Pyrgos (knee), Tom Ryder (neck), Richie Vernon (illness) and Duncan Weir (arm).

The Coo! The Coo!

Scarlets:

15 Liam Williams, 14 Hadleigh Parkes, 13 Regan King, 12 Scott Williams (c), 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Johan Snyman, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 John Barclay, 8 Rob McCusker

Replacements: Torin Myhill, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, George Earle, Lewis Rawlins, Gareth Davies, Steven Shingler, Jordan Williams

I'm ever so slightly worried what Mr John Barclay will do to young master Wilson at the breakdown.

Interesting Glasgow side - looks to me like injuries have forced Toonie into using players he may otherwise have rested.

Backline looks good and balanced, not sure about that pack. Naka (lock), Wilson (number 8) and Strauss (number 8) is the sort of back row Haddock, Robinson and Johnson dream of.

Is Ryan Grant coming back from injury or something? Strange he's on the bench and Jerry starting...

Yes, the pack is a bit of an inebriated Frankenstein's monster and I've no idea how out set piece will get on. That said, having Swinson, Naka, Strauss, Wilson and Jerry all on the field at the same time means we aren't going to be short of men who fancy a carry.

Also delighted to see Bordill on the bench - I hope that he gets onto the pitch. Crucially, he is a specialist openside, so the extent that JB manages to turn the breakdown into his own private sex dungeon again*, then we can haul Wilson off and let the apprentice have pop at the master.

What a strong set of front row replacements we have too. Toonie hopefully going to do a complete switch with 25 to go.

*Which poster was responsible for this gem, again? I laugh every time.

Agreed on Bordill. Holmes hasn't set the world on fire and Fusaro hasn't kicked on as we all hoped, so there's definitely a place for a young SQ bolter at 7. Hopefully he can replicate the trajectory of Watson at Edinburgh.

George Carlin wrote:Yes, the pack is a bit of an inebriated Frankenstein's monster and I've no idea how out set piece will get on. That said, having Swinson, Naka, Strauss, Wilson and Jerry all on the field at the same time means we aren't going to be short of men who fancy a carry.

Also delighted to see Bordill on the bench - I hope that he gets onto the pitch. Crucially, he is a specialist openside, so the extent that JB manages to turn the breakdown into his own private sex dungeon again*, then we can haul Wilson off and let the apprentice have pop at the master.

What a strong set of front row replacements we have too. Toonie hopefully going to do a complete switch with 25 to go.

*Which poster was responsible for this gem, again? I laugh every time.

Can't claim any credit but that is a belter.

Why are we all worried?
Clancy won't allow anyone to play any rugby anyway:

Glasgow do seem to suffer the curse of Clownshoes more than other teams!

Any Scottish team suffers under Clancy.

Maybe a Scotsman invited his missus into a Barclayesque dungeon or something.

Absolutely delighted to see the Coo starting, him versus Adriaanse is music to my ears, 2 proper old school scrummaging TH. Also say what you want about Jerry but he is quite possibly the best scrummaging loosehead at the club even though he is more often than not boring in, as long as he can get away with it.

Scarlets have gone with a strong team, should be a great game, weather permitting.

There almost seems to be a bit of reverse psychology with the front row, with the Glasgow bench maybe being stronger than the starting 3. Hopefully that should mean that they can have a good crack at the weaker Scarlets front row bench later in the game.

Really looking forward to going to this game, though the weather sounds like it may be beyond awful and lets not even mention the flight up!

I doubt GT would think this but perhaps it's with the referee in mind - if he takes a dislike to the Glasgow front row then there are capped internationalists/Lions to come on.

The Coo returns
is a pretty strong looking side. Although going up against the dungeon master without a proper 7 is asking for punishment.

I fancy this team should be too strong for the Scarlett ladies; lots of powerful carriers in the pack, no shortage of jumpers come lineout, and a referee who dotes on al things Glaswegian. What could go wrong?

p.s. Gee enjoy your trip to Scotstoun.

jimbopip wrote:The Coo returns
is a pretty strong looking side. Although going up against the dungeon master without a proper 7 is asking for punishment.

I fancy this team should be too strong for the Scarlett ladies; lots of powerful carriers in the pack, no shortage of jumpers come lineout, and a referee who dotes on al things Glaswegian. What could go wrong?

p.s. Gee enjoy your trip to Scotstoun.

Thanks Jimbo, its going to be an experience, a wet one definitely, but still an experience!

Big Sean Lamont says: "I'll never retire,"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/30737012

What you don't know is that he delivered that line while holding the journalist's neck against the pavement with his boot.

How do Scarlets fans think John Barclay has been playing for you? I am assuming pretty well if he has captained the side on occasion. There are plenty of Scotland fans who still think he is the best openside we have to offer and his current absence from the Scotland set-up is not easily explained.

George Carlin wrote: and his current absence from the Scotland set-up is not easily explained.

Aliens, or a government conspiracy....