Champions Cup Pool 3: Racing 92 v Glasgow Warriors, 9 January

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Racing 92 v Glasgow Warriors
Saturday 9 January 2016
KO 14:00
Stade Yves-Du-Manoir, Colombes

Live on Sky Sports

Referee John Lacey (Ireland)
Touch Judge 1 Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Touch Judge 2 Nigel Correll (Ireland)
Fourth Official Johann Lobregat (France)
TMO Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Assessor Michel Lamoulie (France)
Citing Commissioner Peter Ferguson (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

#These teams are meeting for the first time.

B. Recent European Form

Racing 92

18/12/15: Saints 9 - 9 Racing 92
12/12/15: Racing 92 33 - 3 Saints
21/11/15: Scarlets 12 - 29 Racing 92

Glasgow Warriors

19/12/15: Scarlets 6 - 9 Glasgow
12/12/15: Glasgow 43 - 6 Scarlets
21/11/15: Glasgow 15 - 26 Saints

C. Teams

Racing 92

[tbc]

Glasgow Warriors

[tbc]

madmaccas wrote:

Nematode wrote:Jack Cuthbert does look a little like an Ostrich that has morphed into Prince Charles when running:





But when he's playing well he is effective. His kicking is also pretty strong.

Been away for a while, but glad to be back.

First of all I think this post deserves far more plaudits than it's received. The likeness is uncanny.

In regards to the team named by his Looney Toones, WTF?!

Lee Jones may be a masterstroke, or a total disaster.

Just looked at the official release and the injury list tells the story

Not available due to injury: Mike Blair (concussion), Kevin Bryce (shoulder), Alex Dunbar (groin), Simone Favaro (ankle), Rob Harley (thumb), Grayson Hart (concussion/ neck), Tyrone Holmes (foot), Peter Horne (foot), Henry Pyrgos (wrist), Fergus Scott (shoulder), Tommy Seymour (knee / hamstring), Josh Strauss (concussion), Tim Swinson (concussion) and Richie Vernon (shoulder).

Having 3 SH out injured is beyond bad luck.

Slightly worried by the injures to Seymour, Dunbar and Vernon. Those 3 need to be fit for the 6Nations, but all sound a bit dodgy.

Interesting to see that Horne's injury is listed as a foot, rather than the knee injury speculated on here.

Finally a thumb injury from Harley?! Man up you big ginger teddy bear.

Really? Is there something wrong with one of the people who usually hands out the match day programmes?

For the 6 Nations I'd say Seymour is the biggie there, and purely because Visser is also out injured. That means Cotter will have to choose a winger from Lamont, Brown, Fife and Hoyland, and my concern is that we'll see Lamont lumbering around over the 6 Nations.

Obviously a fully fit Dunbar would be ideal, but both Scott and Taylor are playing well at the moment and after the injuries he's had, I wouldn't want to rush Dunbar back in any event.

Worrying when you add Maitland is out for two weeks with a hamstring problem and visser is out.

Very worrying. Didn't realise Maitland was out as well.

Luckily Scott Johnson isn't in charge, otherwise I could easily see Mark Bennett being shunted on the wing to accommodate a Scott/Taylor centre pairing. Justified of course with a silly explanation about England players using oxygen and wearing socks, or something of that nature.

Haha still to early to find the Scott Johnson term funny...

Hopefully Maitland is just a niggle as I think he was showing good form.

Morning boys.

So it's
Shrek-WeePee-Ragnar the Mental against Ben Ten-The Prettiest Hooker Pigalle has ever seen- Yon Big, Big Fella. Advantage Glasgow

The Best Lock at the World Cup- Flagball Man against A Skinny Welsh bloke and Manuel, if that was a boxing match the ref would call it a no contest(in Glasgow's favour)

Batman- Arthur-Fozzie against Yannick Nyanga (the fastest back row in France, who will see a really fast 6 tomorrow)- Christmas Eve- Good King W. The uninitiated might think Racing have a slight advantage here, they'll learn.

Ali Boy band haircut Price against Maxi Machinaud...erm even I can't spin that.

Meatball- Some old past it antipodean called Carter. Get him Dunkie, get him good.

Dancer-Dumoulin does the gifted one need tackling practice? Or is Toonie paying him back for his recent performances?

- Chavancy You have to feel for him; so obviously outclassed, but all of Bennett's opponents feel that way.

Schlong-Imhoff. One of them was electric at the World Cup, scores lots of tries and is in most people's world team of the year: the other poses for nude calendars.

BigT- Next Roadkill. That's it really

Hoggy-Goosen Poor Goosen, he'll be so busy trying to stop Dancer and flooding through the centres he won't have the energy to chase Hoggy to the try line.

Time for my meds I think. Matron!

Love it Jimbo, in particularly Schlong-Imhoff. I hope Imhoff is ready to deal with the pace.

Glasgow have a player like Naiyaravoro but what they do instead is use freaking Fusaro as a crash ball instead

Jesus, what a pass from Russell.

Weir almost activated gift mode there

Wilson smashed by a scrum half

It's amazing how small a crowd Racing get (relatively speaking) given how many superstars they have

The Hogg goal kicking experiment continues in vain

RDW_Scotland wrote:It's amazing how small a crowd Racing get (relatively speaking) given how many superstars they have

Old and small stadium in a rough suburb. Was there last week and it looked relatively full with only 9000 spectators. Expensive tickets as well (cost at least 40€ for a decent seat).

whocares wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:It's amazing how small a crowd Racing get (relatively speaking) given how many superstars they have

Old and small stadium in a rough suburb. Was there last week and it looked relatively full with only 9000 spectators. Expensive tickets as well (cost at least 40€ for a decent seat).

I was there when Edinburgh played Racing a few years ago and was amazed by the crowd and stadium. Not what I was expecting!

Having Racing had a straight lineout throw yet?

Good tackle on Big Tacky by this Cartwright feller.

Racing player just flopped on weir and played the ball while off his feet

The stats for Hogg's goal kicking success would make interesting reading...

I'd love to be the Racing 92 resident artist.

"OK, I've got my green, my sky blue, my white... Pierre, what colour do Glasgow play in? Really, blue? Well this is easy..."

I'm not watching the match - are the key Glasgow players like Hogg, Bennett, Russell, Strauss, Gray, Brown playing well?

What was Ashe trying to do running sideway and bumping into Reid

Glasgow are playing better than the have been, but you just get the feeling Racing are going to break free

And Ashe mistake cost the try

I think we will be lucky to keep it under 40pts

Nakarawa is a compete liability in the tight nowhere to be seen when it comes to defend against rolling mauls or in close quarters.

Nematode wrote:I'm not watching the match - are the key Glasgow players like Hogg, Bennett, Russell, Strauss, Gray, Brown playing well?

Just seen the score, think that is a good enough answer

Nematode wrote:

Nematode wrote:I'm not watching the match - are the key Glasgow players like Hogg, Bennett, Russell, Strauss, Gray, Brown playing well?

Just seen the score, think that is a good enough answer

Slim pickings but Russell is throwing some delightful passes today

Just seen on twitter Lee Jones is replacing Taqele Naiyaravoro.

As much as I hate Lamont he is one of the most solid defenders in the game. Pat MacArthur has also impressed with his work rate and Russell's passing range is utilised well at 12. The rest have been average at best

Well that was a big different.

CraigS1874 wrote:As much as I hate Lamont he is one of the most solid defenders in the game. Pat MacArthur has also impressed with his work rate and Russell's passing range is utilised well at 12. The rest have been average at best

Fagerson has been great, one of few player who can hold his head right.

Glasgows pack really getting smashed in this game, very underpowered and lacking any go forward. Back row has been totally off the pace and yet again what does Ryan Wilson actually offer......nothing!
Nakawara looking good but no support, Price doing ok, Hogg looking better than he has done in recent weeks.

Majestic83 wrote:Glasgows pack really getting smashed in this game, very underpowered and lacking any go forward. Back row has been totally off the pace and yet again what does Ryan Wilson actually offer......nothing!
Nakawara looking good but no support, Price doing ok, Hogg looking better than he has done in recent weeks.

One thing that frustrates me about Hogg is he often loses the ball once the tackle has been made but his meters made today will be high. Agree Wilson is a waste of space these days.

Was that Bennet going off with a shoulder injury. I hope not.

CraigS1874 wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Glasgows pack really getting smashed in this game, very underpowered and lacking any go forward. Back row has been totally off the pace and yet again what does Ryan Wilson actually offer......nothing!
Nakawara looking good but no support, Price doing ok, Hogg looking better than he has done in recent weeks.

One thing that frustrates me about Hogg is he often loses the ball once the tackle has been made but his meters made today will be high. Agree Wilson is a waste of space these days.

Yes Hogg needs to learn that sometimes simply setting the ball up instead of attempting a fancy offload or risky pass is the best thing to do and retain possession for a few phases.
Very good at times but can be a bit too harem scarem.
For the money he is on I don't think naiyaravoro is worth it so far.

So Glasgow got hammered and Bennett is injured.



Going to be a loooooong season for Glasgow I fear.

Obstruction surely.

Glasgow got a bit MAULed today

That game unfortunately just sums up Glasgow season. Well in the game at half time and could conceivably been in front and then fell off really badly in the second half. Passes still not sticking and always taking the wrong options. It has got to improve sometime but hard to see it happening at the moment.

On the more positive side Fargerson really did show us that he could be a really good quality international TH today. He gave away nothing to Ben Arous. Hard to really believe he is only 19 still.

I thought he would play out this season in the U20s but now I am not so sure. If you are good enough you are old enough and all that! I wonder if VC will seriously be looking at him. He is definitely the best TH at Glasgow just now and quite probably the second best in Scotland, Welsh and Low need to be looking over their shoulders and playing well!

We have got to be a bit careful about overplaying him, but he surely is quite a prospect!

Very much as I expected from Glasgow against that Racing side. Still think Toonie should have rested more players.

Really hope Bennett isn't out for long.

I barely saw the game but it's so frustrating to see Glasgow come out with results like this against Europe's top sides. Glasgow should have been looking to push on after last year's success but they've taken several steps back. Letting the quality of Maitland, Van Der Merwe and Matawalu leave was never going to help them challenge in Europe against the very best, furthermore letting Murray, Welsh and De Klerk go without decent replacements was also a mistake, I know De Klerk turned out to be a creep but when you have Gotham City's finest in the same pack I'm not sure criminal allegations are a huge stumbling block to playing rugby for Glasgow. I understand money is an issue but if it were up to me in an ideal world I'd like to have seen Naiyarovoro, Blair, Favaro added to the existing squad along with a second row to replace Kellock ( in hindsight I wish there had been a fly-half signed as well to give Finn Russell a kick up the backside, he seems to have enjoyed all the plaudits he's gained in the last months) . There's no doubt Glasgow are suffering from a World Cup hangover and perhaps a little bit of complacency following last year's success but that was to be expected especially when you let quality be replaced by quantity and reduce competition for places as a result, over the summer Glasgow had a net gain of 4 players over the summer yet there seems to be far less strength in depth.
Glasgow can afford one bad season but if this season is a right off (and that'll become clear in the next few weeks) I'd like to see the deadwood (Low, Puafisi, Hart, Mamukashvili etc.) cleared and replaced with talented and hungry young players. The best we can hope is that Matawalu's Bath career takes a nose dive and he comes running back to Glasgow, if Glasgow aren't careful that Pro12 win will become this side's peak and not the beginning of something great.

The World Cup has been over for close to 3 months, can we stop with this World Cup hangover please.

What i see is a bunch of players playing for each other instead of playing as a team like they used to.
Naiyaravoro aside, it was clear that the calibre of the players that were signed were a step down on the players that left. And for all his barraging runs, Big T is nowhere near the player DTH was.
The usual aggression in defense is gone too, remember the days when Glasgow were a tough team to beat?

The tighthead situation is a farce, as good as Fagerson is, he basically has no one to learn from at the club.

Glasgow definitely aren't as strong as they were last year, but they certainly have been seriously hampered by injuries this season. Compare Glasgow's 1st choice XV (give or take) with what was put out yesterday:

1 Reid
2 Brown
3 Fagerson
4 Nakarawa
5 Gray
6 Harley
7 Fusaro
8 Strauss

9 Pyrgos
10 Russell
11 Seymour
12 Dunbar
13 Bennett
14 Big T
15 Hogg

Subs - Grant, McArthur, Pufisi, Swinson, Fusaro, Blair, Horne, Vernon

That team would be very competitive if the majority of the players were fit over the course of a season. There's some key players in there who have had a lot of injuries, and there have been a lot of key players out at the same time.

Unfortunately I think Glasgow have hit their peak - unless there is some serious investment in the summer I can't see them following up their Pro 12 success never mind progress on Europe. They will still have enough quality to be there or there abouts but weaknesses in key positions will hold them back.

Two things which are definitely worse than last season are lineout and defending driven lineouts. Not sure what the new forwards coach brings to the party, but it certainly isnt lineout expertise. well done Fagerson for looking good yesterday, although it looked like Racing just wanted a stable platform, as their scrum rarely went back on their own ball nor forwards on ours. Lets see how Zander gets on at the return match at Murrayfield.