Glasgow Warriors v Connacht Friday 22nd February

Glasgow Warriors v Connacht
Scotstoun Stadium
Glasgow
Friday 22nd February
KO 19.35

Live on Premier Sports


Well Glasgow seem to have had the hex on Connacht in recent seasons, home and away, but this one is not going to be an easy one to call, with both teams giving up international players and Glasgow in particular, down to the bear bones of their squad.

Both teams have a lot to play for as well. Connacht are pushing hard for a play off spot and Glasgow could probably put themselves out of the sight of the third place contenders if they manage a win.

Both sides won last weekend. Glasgow in a crazy game down in Cardiff, when they had the game won twice and then let Blues back into it on both occasions. You get the feeling that their might be some tackling practice going on in their camp this week. Connacht had to work hard for their win against a decent and improving Cheetahs team, who might give other teams a bit of a fright in the run in this season.

It is fair to say that Glasgow's selection is likely to be decimated by the Scotland call ups and the uncertainty of who they are likely to get back given the injury situation in the Scotland camp. The fact that they are playing away makes it much more likely that they will take more squad players away with them than they might otherwise have done.

Picking a team is therefore going to involve some serious guess work, here is my go:

1. Keeble
2. Bryce - I think Scotland will keep Turner
3. Nuke
4. Cummings
5. Swinson
6. Harley
7. Fusaro - Gordon (who had a good game last week) if he is not fit
8. Ashe
9. Horne G - said in interview that he hoped to be fit for this one
10. Thompson - I think Hastings will stay with Scotland
11. Niko - Hopefully fit again
12. Kelly? - am struggling here, not sure if he or McDowell will be fit and surely Horne P off with Scotland
13. Grigg
14. Steyn
15. Jacko

subs:

Allen
Stewart
Rae
McDonald
Tamileu
Frisbee
Hughes
Nairn

There are a few ifs and buts about that selection. Grigg could also be called up and that would leave us very short in the centre. It would do us a massive favour if Hastings came back to us, but hard to see that happening as they won't be sure about Finn until the Saturday before the game. If Kelly and McDowell are injured, I have not got a clue who we might play at 12, someone from the academy maybe?

Looking forward to seeing the team on Thursday.

Options in the centre are looking a bit dodgy. Of course, Scotland will probably name their team on Thursday so a few players could be released then, but it's hard not to see them keeping on both Hastings and P. Horne as a precaution (they'll both surely be in the squad if Russell is out, so they'll want them both around in case).

You could I suppose go with Thomson at 12, move Jacko to 10 with Hughes or Mata at FB. Not exactly awe-inspiring...

It's a bit worrying but we may be forced to do something like that!

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Options in the centre are looking a bit dodgy. Of course, Scotland will probably name their team on Thursday so a few players could be released then, but it's hard not to see them keeping on both Hastings and P. Horne as a precaution (they'll both surely be in the squad if Russell is out, so they'll want them both around in case).

You could I suppose go with Thomson at 12, move Jacko to 10 with Hughes or Mata at FB. Not exactly awe-inspiring...

Could have done with Dunbar...maybe Fergusson could be pulled in from the 7s.

Agree with BG's side other than I expect Stewart to start, Ashe could easily end up in France and Jackson should go to 10 or 12. We lack 10-12 options and have a surplus of back three choices so better off using as many of the back three options as we can.

Connacht have got to be big favourites for this. Completely the wrong time to face them.

Well Finn is definitely out of the France game, so we definitely won't be seeing Horne or Hastings for this one

BigGee wrote:Well Finn is definitely out of the France game, so we definitely won't be seeing Horne or Hastings for this one

Johnson as well. H Jones could cover 12 at Pro14 level. McDowall injured. Somehow, we have ended up short a 12 at Glasgow with too many wings.

At least Masaga will go off the wage bill next year. Dunbar will go off fully as will Hogg...who is coming in? McGuigan?

Having said that, the pack should be competitive: Keeble Stewart Nuke Swinson Cummings Harley Fusaro Tameilau/Ashe is pretty good.

The midfield will be pretty much make-do though. Could certainly have done with Dunbar for this one, but hey ho. (Still think it's a good move for him to have gone, he really needs some gametime to recover his mojo, and the competition for centre spots at Glasgow has become very fierce this season).

Johnathon Humphries suggesting that we may have a few more back from injury than we may have hoped for.

Fagerson M, Horne G, McDowell, Flockhart are all possibilities, but the call won't be made until the death.

It would certainly help us if some, all of them are available.

Glasgow team :

Glasgow Warriors

15 Ruaridh Jackson

14 Kyle Steyn
13 Patrick Kelly
12 Stafford McDowall
11 Nikola Matawalu

10 Brandon Thomson
9 George Horne

1 Oli Kebble
2 Grant Stewart
3 Siua Halanukonuka
4 Tim Swinson
5 Scott Cummings
6 Robert Harley
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Adam Ashe

Substitutes

16 Kevin Bryce
17 Jamie Bhatti
18 Adam Nicol
19 Matt Fagerson
20 Tom Gordon
21 Nick Frisby
22 Rory Hughes
23 Robbie Nairn

Unavailable players: Bruce Flockhart (ankle), Callum Gibbins (ankle/knee), Stuart Hogg (shoulder), Huw Jones (knee), Lee Jones (knee), Matt Smith (shoulder), DTH van der Merwe (shoulder) and Ryan Wilson (knee)

Alex Allan, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Nick Grigg, Adam Hastings, Peter Horne, Sam Johnson, Ali Price, D'arcy Rae, Tommy Seymour and George Turner (all Scotland)

Tevita Tameilau (USA)

Well that is a better team than I expected to see out. McDowall recovering from injury is great news, and means that our starting XV at least has everyone playing in position. Interesting that Toonie has kept Rae and Turner away despite them not making the 23. Could have done with Turner, but hey ho.

Excellent to see Matt Fagerson back. Other than that, the bench feels a bit make-do, with two wingers in the backs, though there really aren't that many (any) other options.

Overall feeling a bit more optimistic than I was on Tuesday.

With three locks starting, McDonald misses out which is a shame. We have a glut of good, solid locks at the moment and can't help thinking that we will have to lose Swinson or J Gray (who increasingly looks like he needs a change of scenary) to make space for Cummings, McDonald and Davidson. Is it Hodgeson or Sykes who is the next one coming in?

If Turner, Rae and DTH were in that 23, I would be pretty confident. As it is, the pack will be fine to start and the backs are okay. What is the feeling on Steyn vs Nairn?

Pretty happy with that team all things considered. It could have been a lot worse.

A pretty competitive pack and z steady backline

Really pleased to see Kelly start. A decent player who has been starved of opportunities. His chance to put down a marker.

According to the SofaScore app Brandon Thomson’s middle name is Terry.

The Craggie Islanders 10 couldn't beat a one legged man in an arse kicking contest.

Niko is back on planet Ritalin: driving the maul in the first minute, dancing like Fred Astaire, missing tackles and knocking on.

The Warriors' scrum is absolute mince.


But apart from that everything is wonderful. Aggression, ambition, control....yes, control and pace. A joy to watch.

Love Peter Wright on commentary

Am at work atm, so can't watch this tonight.

Sounds like we are doing ok though, BP in the bag and winning comfortably

Good try that.

Good result, well done soapdodgers!

Glasgow seemed to have refound the missing mojo!

We need to stop producing world class backs. It's getting unfair on the rest of the world.

How did Paddy Kelly get on?

Failed an HIA then Robbie Nairn came on and scored two tries.

He does not have much luck on the injury front!

Well all in all, you would have to say that was a very satisfactory ngiht for the Warriors.

Another home win with a BP, against a half decent team and it looks like we are re-finding our form at the right time in the season this time around. We also managed to pull back a point on Munster and they are all going to count as to who tops the conference.

Our squad players have stood up once again and got us the result, just as they did in the AI window, that also bodes well for the begining of next season, when the internationalists will be away at the WC and for the future generally.

Connacht rely too much on a light game... only saw bits of the Glasgow game though as I was watching the dreadful Ospreys v Munster game. But Connacht need to muscle up their gameplan more now to have a more rounded game of running plus force.

I decided to cheer myself up after all the dreadful Scottish results yesterday and watch my recording of this game.

It was a good performance from Glasgow, much better defensively than last week, but still sharp in attack.

That Kyle Steyn looks like a half decent player, I am not sure he will be playing very much sevens for the rest of the season. He is needed at Scotstoun.

It has been a good 6N window for the Warriors and potentially looking at maximum points and going into the back end of the season in decent form this year.