Glasgow Warriors v Connacht Friday 13th April

Glasgow Warriors v Connacht
Scotstoun Stadium
Glasgow
Friday 13th April 2018

KO 19.35

Live on BBC Alba

Any fixture on Friday the 13th is always going to leave you a little be worried. Even more so after the Warriors horror show down in Wales last weekend!

There will have been a bit of soul searching in training for the Glasgow players and coaches this week. Was it rustiness after a lay off, a poor game plan, or are we just not good enough to play the big boys away from home and expect to come away with a result?

Fortunately we have a chance to put that to rights this weekend against a Connacht side who are not really playing for much more than pride (though that has never been in short supply for the men in green). Given our lead in the conference, it seems pretty unlikely that we will not get our home semi final but we do need to show a bit of form to have any chance of winning it and progressing.

Selection is going to be interesting. Surely some changes are required but we also need a settled team at this stage of the season. There are plenty of down weeks for us, being out of Europe and hopefully going directly into the playoff semis. We do kind of need to see what DR thinks his best XV are now. If he thought it was the team he had out last weekend, he may now be changing his mind!

Is Finn Russell still in the game, or has he already moved to Paris in his head?

Will Fraser Brown and Alex Dunbar be back playing this weekend and can they manage a match without getting injured again?

Is Huw Jones done for the season or will we see his international form for Glasgow at long last?

Will our pack be able to stand up to a strong Connacht scrum having lost possibly our best loosehead?

In what is going to be Glasgow last regular home game of the season, it would also be good to be given the heads up on who might be leaving the club at the end of the season, so they can get the chance to say goodbye, as has been the tradition over the past few seasons. Other than Ryan Grant heading off into the world of gin distilling, we have really had nothing confirmed about any comings and goings. Maybe we will hear more tomorrow.

Lots more questions than answers for Glasgow and hopefully they can get back on track.

Looks like with the exception of Wilson and Kebble we are or can be at full strength. We also have Matt Fagerson back from Oz - presumably to cover for Ashe and Wilson. Still don't get why DR let Matt F (plus George Horne, Jacko and Lee Jones) go at this stage of the season. Doubt if Matt will play but he may bench. Ali Price needs to get his head out of his erse and start playing heads up rugby so bench to add energy later on as per Scotland.

Hogg, Seymour, DTH, Jones, Dunbar, Russell, Pyrgos, Ashe, Fusaro, Gibbins, Gray, Cummings, Z Fagerson, Brown, Bhatti. Reps: Allan, Turner, Rae, M Fagerson, Harley, Price, Masaga, Johnson

I like your 23 Schiz, but...

I would start young Hastings: give Dancer a rest/ time on the naughty step to reflect on Parc Y Scarlets. Also, we need to give AH gametime just in case Dancer has already signed off.
I would have Mad Mad Mata in the 23 and rest Tommy Seymour who has looked tired all season. Hopefully play TS against the Luvvies were an easy hat-trick puts him in the right frame of mind for the semi.
Layla Massager didn't add anything when he came on on Saturday. He's been here a whole season and has not really made an impact.
Matt Fagerson to get a rest from the jet lag this week. So Lewis Wynne or Matt Smith to replace him.
Allan and Rae to start; Zander and Bhatti to bench.
Either Naughty Boy or Oscar Peterson to start and JG to be waterboy.
We need to win and then have two matches to sort out who will play in the semi. Rest and Rotation will be crucial from here on in.

From what I can tell of JB's post

Allan - Brown - Rae               (not Nuka?)
Cummings - Brian                 (Great combo last season)
Gibbins - Ashe - Fusaro         (Fusaro for me is pretty close to finished and is useful as international cover only; M Smith to start)

Pyrgos - Hastings                 (Would prefer G Horne who will love Connacht's pace and has had success with Hastings)
DTH - Dunbar - Jones- Mata  (They will score at least 3 tries)
Hogg                                   (Rennie needs to learn how to incorporate a Ferarri after using a Honda Civic (Jackson) all season)

Turner - Bhatti - Fagerson - Harley (I would go Peterson or Swinson) - Fagerson - Price - Johnson - ? (Potentially Jackson who can cover 10/15 with H Jones covering wing)

Hazel, don't forget G Horne and Jacko are in Oz this weekend.

Nuke still doesn't seem aerobically fit enough for our game plan.

Peterson as replacement second row.

Smith at 7, Vunisa as replacement.

Possibly Rory Hughes covering full back and wing.

Missed that. Why is Jacko there? G Horne is completely understandable.

Johnson covering 10 is an interesting experiment. I would go for Thomson. I like the idea of a 10/15. If you have a pure wing there, then Horne will bench as a 10/12, DTH covers 13 and Mata covers full back.

Team:-

15. Stuart Hogg (104)
14. Tommy Seymour (112)
13. Alex Dunbar (108)
12. Sam Johnson (38)
11. DTH van der Merwe (98)
10. Peter Horne (135)
9. Henry Pyrgos (143)
1. Alex Allan (70)
2. Fraser Brown (71)
3. Zander Fagerson (65)
4. Scott Cummings (35)
5. Jonny Gray (84)
6. Rob Harley (180)
7. Callum Gibbins CAPTAIN (11)
8. Matt Fagerson (22)

Replacements
16. Grant Stewart (6)
17. Jamie Bhatti (24)
18. Siua Halanukonuka (13)
19. Kiran McDonald (11)
20. Chris Fusaro (139)
21. Ali Price (55)
22. Finn Russell (77)
23. Niko Matawalu (91)

So Matt Fagerson has made a miraculous recovery and most likely had a good rub down on flight back from Oz Wee Georg H should have come back with him tbh.

Good side. Disappointed to see Fusaro and Harley in there. Big second rowers (forgot about McDonald). Probably one of our larger backline's as well.

Connacht looked to have picked a good side. Going to be a close contest

Also great to see Big Eck back. Bundee Aki does not like him much

Seems a bit odd that there is no mention of Hastings or Huw Jones.

I feel sorry for Hastings - both Horne and Russell were awful at the weekend. I thought AH played very well during the 6N period and deserves to keep his place in the team if last week is anything to go by.

Connacht Side. Looks good

(15-9) Darragh Leader, Niyi Adeolokun, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, Kieran Marmion, (1-8) Denis Buckley, Tom McCartney, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Quinn Roux, Eoghan Masterson, Jarrad Butler (Capt), Eoin McKeon.

Replacements (16-23): Shane Delahunt, Peter McCabe, Conor Carey, Gavin Thornbury, John Muldoon, Caolin Blade, Tom Farrell, Stacey Ili

Hastings has a right to be a bit miffed. He is going to be 2nd choice next season. Russell has been poor since the turn of the year and Horne has been mixed.

H Jones played Currie Cup before coming over and has been found out defensively a bit. Happy for him to get 3-4 weeks without having to mentally prepare. Grigg has had a good season, Dunbar needs gametime before playoffs and DTH is pretty good. He can come back against Edinburgh to get his playoff legs.

L Jones is away I am guessing? He is one who we could do with now to push for Seymour's spot if Masaga is being written off.

Yes Lee Jones was one of the quartet (+ Jacko, George Horne and Matt Fagerson) inexplicably released for 7s duty FFS. I think we have been stiffed with Huw Jones as we had to off load Mark Bennett to the Luvvies to make space.

Oh but you're a hard man to please Schiz.

I just want to know who Fagerson flies with: I come back from Orlando and I'm cream crackered for days. He flies half way round the world and is ready to run rings round the Craggy Island Seconds.

Jackson, Jones and Horne jnr should be available for the semi-final if needed.

Huw Jones is, indeed, baffling. It does look as if DR is beginning to see Nick Grigg as ahead of him in the pecking order. Mind you Sam Johnson seems to be the first choice 12; if Eck Dunbar plays well tomorrow Jones could find himself third choice at 13. And yet Jones has been mightily impressive for Scotland.

I'm much more concerned about injuries at 2 and 8. If Brown and Fagerson jnr get hurt tomorrow we'll be scraping the barrel for the next two matches. Actually if Fagerson's hamstring goes, again, tomorrow we could see Rob Harley at 8. Or the man-mountain that is Chris Fusaro.

I so hope we see Ashe and Vunisa in the 23 for Ulster. And Malcolm.

We've got a guaranteed play off place and most of our squad injury free so why do we all feel underwhelmed?

Jimbo
James (My Name Is On the Shirt) Malcolm has been awful in any game he played in - and I know there has not been a lot - thank F. That is why Grant Stewart an academy player is ahead of him.

Any idea what's occurring? Is it just lack of game time? Or is he believing his own publicity?

I think DR's choice of taking a full strength side to Bloomfontain the week before traveling to Deepest Devon cost us dearly in Europe, now I'm worrying that we could miss the chance of resting and rotating before the play offs.

Matt Fagerson seems to have made a remarkable recovery from his hamstring issue that brought him back from Oz. Maybe he just came back directly from HK. Either way, he seems to have spent a lot of time on planes over the past few weeks, I hope that does not blunt his edge. It also shows up a bit of a lack of depth in the squad. DR clearly does not have much faith in the rest of the squad back row players and Adam Ashe seems unable to string any games together without getting injured again.

It will be a big ask of an 19 year old to perform well after such an arduous journey, but he is a class act so hopefully will be fine.

Otherwise most of the changes are probably quite reasonable, though I would have preferred to see Hastings starting than Horne. Maybe DR just wants to win this game and get the home semi then we may see a few of the other deserving candidates get their chances in the last two games when the pressure is off.

You do wonder as well if we are going to see Huw Jones again this season. If we are not going to play him then probably better to send him off for his wrist op and get it out of the way. I am not going to write him off though, he may have just needed a rest and is a class player, even though we have not seen much of him in a Glasgow shirt yet. I am sure he will come good.

jimbopip wrote:Any idea what's occurring? Is it just lack of game time? Or is he believing his own publicity?

I think DR's choice of taking a full strength side to Bloomfontain the week before traveling to Deepest Devon cost us dearly in Europe, now I'm worrying that we could miss the chance of resting and rotating before the play offs.

He has played so seldom he has not had any publicity so that is not a reason. He just does not seem able to step up. Maybe a confidence issue. View from T's, Byresy, Warrior Section is that he is going soon.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Jimbo
James (My Name Is On the Shirt) Malcolm has been awful in any game he played in - and I know there has not been a lot - thank F.   That is why Grant Stewart an academy player is ahead of him.  

Not sure he has been awful as he has not had many minutes. Still young and may have potential, but could do with getting time. London Scots would have been perfect (scrum heavy league, less pressure, time available).

Grant Stewart was getting bullied around the pitch against Scarlets and will need to get bigger. We already struggle in the front 5 and both Turner/Stewart are not helping at scrum time. It is good to be dynamic around the pitch, but to reach the next level our front 5 need to be able to hold their own at the basics.

The whole scenario raises questions about DR's management.
Against the Scarlets we had an academy player hooking against a British Lion.
Fair enough you can't predict that our no 1 choice would have a long run of injuries, or that our no. 2 would get a HIA early in that game...

but it's not as if Turner and Brown have been fighting fit all season and it's suddenly come upon us.

If James Malcolm is not in DR's long term plans then he should have been moved to allow us to have four hookers rather than having had to rely on young Grant Stewart away to the champions!

Again, if we get nothing out of tonight then we have to play our strongest XV away to Ulster which means that players like Rae, Peterson, Naughty Boy, Vunisa, Smith, Wynn who could all be called into the semi if we pick up injuries will not have the chance of getting match fit before then.

We better win tonight.

Jimbo, DR only arrived in August remember so this is his 'assessment season'. He has done not too bad. Bad luck with hookers -Turner is a bloody good player and potential Int. Pat MacArthur is a loss as he never lets us down. As for H Sapling calling out Big Boab Harley. HS clearly does not watch a lot of Warriors this (or indeed any other season) as BBB is our most consistent forward maybe with the exception of JG.

OK guys I'm signing off now. MrsPip has arranged for us to be at Barry The Kidneystones for dinner tonight.

I'm recording the game so I can hear Hugh Dan the Heedrum Hodrum Man's dulcet tones at midnight, or whenever I get to sit in front of the tellybox.

Schiz...no text messages with score updates please.

I do like watching Glasgow play.

I don't like the camera work from the Beeb though. Can't they use the camera focus???

Good stuff so far from Glasgow. Playing it like a knock out game and taking all the points. We just have to win this game, nothing more nothing less.

Can't really ask much more than that from Glasgow this half. Playing so much better this week, so hopefully the Scarlets game was just a blip!

Henry P is having a really good game tonight. Definitely putting himself back in the frame

Peter Horne, that was a shocker!

Well it all petered out a bit in the second half but in reality it was job done by half time. The ref lost control of the set piece as well which did not help.

Much better this week when it mattered though and hopefully can experiment a bit next week before looking to peak for the play off game.

Its been another decent season for the Warriors with a lot more to come.

Watched the first half. Swapped to Newcastle-Sale for the second (Great game, worth watching) with the occasional flick back (as my viewing habits are under scrutiny).

M Fagerson was excellent and carried well. Pyrgos actually had a good game and, bar that conversion miss when the game was already decided, Horne did well from 10. Generally a good team performance from 2 minutes in to half.

The ref did not seem to let the game flow and was not a fan of his style. Did not really impact who was going to win this.

Not really sure how to read into this game. On paper, that was a good Connacht side that got put to the sword though the table will not reflect that. It was a half of dominance followed by a half of complacency. It has secured a bye to the semi finals and a home date, probably with the Scarlets. Do we really know what our best side is? Feels weird to ask considering that Glasgow have won the conference with ease (and are odds on to face Leinster at a 'neutral' Aviva stadium).

Job done. Horne excellent. Not a complete performance by any means but enough to win it by HT BTW Price was really awful when he came on. Connacht's MoM was Frank Murphy. He (Murphy) failed to even each the pitifully low standards set by his compatriots Lacey, Wilkinson and Clancy. Now that we are oot of the CG 7s need Wee George, Jacko and LJ back asap. So we only dropped 1 point in all Pro 14 home games -v Luvvies at end of December