Benetton Rugby v Glasgow Warriors Saturday 5th January 2019

Benetton Rugby v Glasgow Warriors
Stadio Monigo
Treviso

Saturday 5th January 2019
KO 15.00

Live on Premier Sport


Well after the sickening disappointments of the festive derbies, it is back to the day job of the rest of the league for Glasgow and having thrown all their festive points away in the Edinburgh double header, this match now takes on more significance than it otherwise might have done. Having had a comfortable lead at the top of our conference, Munster are now breathing right down our necks.

Benetton are no mugs these days, especially at home. They are also on form having won their double header with Zebre and as they are not going to be that interested in the euro games, will be targeting this game as an opportunity to knock off one of the big boys.

Glasgow on the other hand, won't be giving this game the full strength treatment. They have just come out of a very hard block of Euro games and derbies and several players are going to need to be rested prior to the final to euro pool games from which knock out qualification is still very possible. This game has banana skin written all over it.

On the more positive side, the Glasgow squad players have stepped up to the mark on several occasions already this season when required to do so and with several first teamers not really showing their form I the derby games will be pushing hard to make their point in on-going selection dilemmas for the coaching staff. A few players looked heavy legged last week though and in need of a bit of rejuvenation. They should get that this week.

My stab at the team:

Kebble
Stewart
Nuke
Swinson
Cummings
Wilson
Fusaro
Ashe
Horne G
Thompson
Niko
Johnson
Jones H
DTH
Jacko

Allen
Bryce
Rae
Harley
Smith
Frisbee
McDowell
Nairn

Yay

Come on Glasgow

Nice to be cheering for you again.

You really need some league points after the two skelpings that Edinburgh handed you for Christmas and New Year.

Rennie confirmed Stewart was hooked at halftime in the last 1872 game. You know you're having a bad day when Kevin Bryce is seen as a better option!

Rennie will be praying Brown or Turner will be fit soon.

Trouble is neither of them are going to be back any time soon and certainly not for the two euro games coming up.

Stewart is young and will be given some time to grow but it could cost us in the short term. Our line out did not function well in either of the derby games and it killed us when we had chances.

Rennie also rode back a bit on what he originally said about not needing any more cover at hooker, admitting that we were one knock away from being in big trouble (more than we are already). You get the feeling that he might be having a look at what might be out there as an injury joker. Trouble is there is probably not to much that is not already cup tied or about to start super rugby pre season.

This could easily become a Scotland problem as well as Glasgow, with only McInally of our front line hookers now fit. Ford seems to have been consigned to history by Cockers and that would leave Cherry, Stewart, Byrce or Jake Kerr down at Leicester as understudy. None of them currently are probably up to the task.

Hopefully for both teams, one of them will be back by February and McInally stays fit.

BigGee wrote:Trouble is neither of them are going to be back any time soon and certainly not for the two euro games coming up.

Stewart is young and will be given some time to grow but it could cost us in the short term. Our line out did not function well in either of the derby games and it killed us when we had chances.

Rennie also rode back a bit on what he originally said about not needing any more cover at hooker, admitting that we were one knock away from being in big trouble (more than we are already). You get the feeling that he might be having a look at what might be out there as an injury joker. Trouble is there is probably not to much that is not already cup tied or about to start super rugby pre season.

This could easily become a Scotland problem as well as Glasgow, with only McInally of our front line hookers now fit. Ford seems to have been consigned to history by Cockers and that would leave Cherry, Stewart, Byrce or Jake Kerr down at Leicester as understudy. None of them currently are probably up to the task.

Hopefully for both teams, one of them will be back by February and McInally stays fit.

The SRU should do a Ryan Grant and move Ford to the Weedge for cover to the end of the season. It might reinvigorate him. Ford has his flaws, but surely you cant pass up a 100+ capped international forward who at 34 is not completely over the hill!!!

Ford moving would leave us with 2 fit hookers - not going to happen

RDW_Scotland wrote:Ford moving would leave us with 2 fit hookers - not going to happen

He is also cup tied, so won't really help Glasgow at the moment.

I imagine they are going to have to bring somebody in, a bit like how they drafted Petrus Du Plessis.

I wouldn't be surprised if Robbie Smith gets a shot against Treviso, he captained the U20's and looks a very good player.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Ford moving would leave us with 2 fit hookers - not going to happen

I believe Fenton is fit again (playing club rugby) so we'd have 3, but still unlikely to happen

Ok ok ok, we'll keep Ford.

Can we give them Fowles instead then? He'd do a job at hooker I reckon!

Glasgow need to win this or they could be fighting it out for top 3 heading into the 6N. I expect to see Connacht get 5pts v Munster who themselves will probably get 1. That leaves Connacht on 41 and Munster on 40.

Benetton are still in with a shout of a euro quarter but surely making the Champs Cup is worth more to them. If Ulster lose and Benetton win they help their cause for a playoff of some sort.

I'm going for Benetton to win by 4 with Glasgow trying to hard resulting in things not sticking.

Benetton may feel their best chance of qualifying for the Champs cup is by winning or running up in the Challenge cup, given that other sides in it might gain automatic CC qualification anyway through their league position.

They look good in the league at the moment by virtue of taking 8 points from Zebre over the hols. Unfortunately they will struggle over the 6N period when they lose their international players. The Scots and Italians always get hit a bit harder at this time by virtue of only having two teams.

It will be interesting to see what kind of team they do put out for this game. There is no doubt it is winnable for them, but their top players will already have had 4 hard games in them, with two more to come if they go all out in the Challenge Cup. That would leave them on their hands and knees going into the 6N, which I doubt the Italian Union would be very happy with.

I suspect that they will do a bit of rotation over this match and the coming two, to try and keep the bulk of the team together but giving international players at least one game off to recover. So not at full strength maybe, but certainly very competitive and the capitulation by Glasgow over the holidays will certainly have given them more hope than they might have done.

Still Glasgow have not been that accommodating to Benetton in the past and have some points to prove themselves. It could be a close game, but I fancy Glasgow to sneak it and get their season back on track. We have not become a poor team overnight. If we don't win, then we are into a dogfight.

I'm fairly certain that Benetton will be going in for Tombola-esque rotation this weekend; much to the relief of most Glasgow fans. We have struggled to grind out wins over there recently but the timing of this fixture really works against the Italian side this time. If they play a full strength side this week then they will suffer in their upcoming European fixtures. Sadly for them they do not have any real strength in depth so it looks as if they will sacrifice the league points in order to maintain their European adventure.
While Glasgow also have two big matches coming up they have the luxury of a strong squad to pick from.
So

Allen back from the naughty step (Bhatti on after 60)
Stewart, whom we shall call Highlander "there is only one", until we sign Du Plessis' mate Schalk. (Bryce)
Rae (Du Plessis)
Swinson
Cummings (BBB)
Wilson
Smith
Tamiflu (Ashe)
Yon Ozzie intercept thrower (Aldi price)
Thompson
Niko
Johnson (McDowell)
Jones H
DTH (Nairn)
Jacko

Sam Johnson returns to the Glasgow Warriors starting XV for this weekend’s trip to Treviso to face Benetton Rugby, live on Premier Sports kick-off 2pm UK Time.

The centre came off the bench against Edinburgh at Scotstoun last Saturday having recovered from a knee injury and starts at inside centre in Italy.

He is joined in midfield by Stafford McDowall outside of a half-back pairing of George Horne and Adam Hastings.

Ruaridh Jackson is another one of ten changes to the starting line-up at full back and is joined in the back three by Niko Matawalu and Robbie Nairn.

Jamie Bhatti and Siua Halanukonuka come in to the front row, starting either side of Grant Stewart. Behind them Tim Swinson and Scott Cummings pack down in the engine room.

Ryan Wilson captains the side. He is joined by Chris Fusaro and Adam Ashe at the back of the scrum.

On the bench, Alex Allan returns from suspension and Lee Jones is fit again having recovered from a knee injury.

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie said: “We’ve had a good week of preparation and are looking forward to the challenge of Benetton away.

“Keiran Crowley has done an excellent job around recruitment and development and they are now a genuine play-off contender.

“Our strength has been our ability to convert opportunities, but we haven’t been clinical enough over the past couple of weeks making more handling errors than in the previous five games. That needs to be better this week.”



Glasgow Warriors team to play Benetton Rugby in the Guinness PRO14, Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Saturday 5 January, kick-off 2pm (UK time) - live on Premier Sports. You can follow the game on Twitter @GlasgowWarriors. Glasgow Warriors appearances in brackets:



1. Jamie Bhatti (36)

2. Grant Stewart (14)

3. Siua Halanukonuka (22)

4. Tim Swinson (118)

5. Scott Cummings (46)

6. Ryan Wilson (C) (148)

7. Chris Fusaro (155)

8. Adam Ashe (63)



9. George Horne (32)

10. Adam Hastings (21)

11. Niko Matawalu (105)

12. Sam Johnson (43)

13. Stafford McDowall (6)

14. Robbie Nairn (2)

15. Ruairdh Jackson (145)



Replacements



16. Kevin Bryce (18)

17. Alex Allan (82)

18. D’Arcy Rae (54)

19. Rob Harley (198)

20. Matt Smith (22)

21. Nick Frisby (9)

22. Brandon Thomson (15)

23. Lee Jones (80)



Unavailable players: Fraser Brown (knee) Alex Dunbar (thigh), Zander Fagerson (ankle), Stuart Hogg (hip), Peter Horne (knee) Oli Kebble (chest), George Turner (ankle)

Well that is about the side I expected, pretty much everyone who was due a rest gets one, except Hastings, who now plays his 5th match on the trot.

Does that mean he has to sit out next weekend against Cardiff? If Horne is back fit, then maybe that is not such a bad call, otherwise maybe he will get some SRU dispensation, he is unlikely to be starting the 6N matches in any case. I notice that Edinburgh have benched quite a few of their Scottish Internationals and they will certainly be needing them next weekend. You would imagine some conversations have been had about this, in terms of who can and can't play.

Benetton look like they have gone full strength as well, so it should be a cracking game.

By the time Sarries come around, Hastings will be starting his 7th match in a row


This probably means Furra Linee at 10 against the Blues. Unless Thomson comes on early tomorrow and really sets the heather afire.


That's a pretty good pack and the replacements won't weaken it too much.


Johnson-McDowall could be dynamite if they gel quickly ( the gelignite boys?). Nairn-Jacko-Niko should be a pedestrian and predictable back three

I just hope we're three tries to the good before the Ozzie intercept machine comes on: we might hold out for a draw then.

Horne did not look comfortable following his injury last weekend and then played on with it for some time and that usually does not go well, as Dunbar also managed to get crocked. Hopefully the coaching staff are confident he will be ready next weekend.

Anyway, no point getting to far ahead of ourselves, this is a tricky game that we need to win.

The backline still looks pretty nimble, despite all the changes. This will hopefully be the game to see Johnson back up to speed and Nairn looked good on his debut, so more of the same from him would be good.

We need to hold our own up front for that to be effective though and we should manage this. I don't think Benetton, though no mugs, are as strong as the other packs we have played the past 4 weekends and a few coming in will want to prove a point and put themselves up for euro selection.

No ifs, no buts, we need to win this match.

Suspect if Glasgow get ahead quickly Hastings will be hooked early and Thomson will get the second 40. As others have said, no excuses anymore and no way to wind up the luvvies. Need the five points out of this and that's that.

Eejit wrote: As others have said, no excuses anymore and no way to wind up the luvvies.

Oh, I don't know I'm sure we'll find a way.

Really need Glasgow to man up and win this one to help their eastern brethren!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Really need Glasgow to man up and win this one to help their eastern brethren!

I thought that's what they did over the last two weekends.

Crazy play from Glasgow so far

Also, I've never seen a Treviso crowd like this!

McDowell looking dangerous

Glasgow get the try back but are looking like headless chickens at times

Treviso showing so much more intensity

Should have gone for points

Well theyve played like crap but good to go in ahead!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Also, I've never seen a Treviso crowd like this!

Is it big

Brendan wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Also, I've never seen a Treviso crowd like this!

Is it big

Good size and noisy!

Was hoping to listen to this on bbc Scotland, but no, the Dundee vs Patrick Wendy all is apparently more important

tigertattie wrote:Was hoping to listen to this on bbc Scotland, but no, the Dundee vs Patrick Wendy all is apparently more important

It defies logic doesn't it.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Brendan wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Also, I've never seen a Treviso crowd like this!

Is it big

Good size and noisy!

I guess now they are in the playoff spots they think they might win. Good for the team to have that.

I thought a competent Irish referee was a myth like the Minotaur or a non-perfumed luvvie but Joy Neville is an excellent ref.

Nairn has been disappointing - big strong lad but took the wrong option a few times and hands like t!ts

Eejit wrote:I thought a competent Irish referee was a myth like the Minotaur or a non-perfumed luvvie but Joy Neville is an excellent ref.

As a woman she is use to being right. The other guys aren't as good because they can't bring their Mammy with them. All the reports seem to imply that she does well with the games she gets, not like the lads who through their lack of ability has resulted in conspiracies about Irish sculldoggery. I wonder if she will get any international games in the next year or two

Glasgow did everything but score on the previous play.

Lee Jones making a difference and Sam Johnson is playing very well, the missing link at 12

17-17, game on

Hastings continuing to be a bit of a liability

Hastings put us in big trouble there

Giving away three points here would be a result for us

Glasgow turn down a three pointer

Treviso 9 offside at that scrum - ref even told him to get bsba

This is like an Edinburgh performance of old - basic mistakes and failing to take numerous chances

Another one gone

FFS Glasgow - bunch of useless #£*@#_

Well that is it, can't say we deserved to win that, did not take our chances

Arsing Love sacks.

We gave that one away, had plenty of chances to win that and did not take them.

The wheels have really come off our wagon over xmas

What's happened to Glasgow? Shambles of a performance.