Glasgow Warriors v La Rochelle Euro Cup Double Header 7 and 14 December

First topic message reminder :

La Rochelle v Glasgow Warriors
Euro Champions Cup
Stade Marcel Deflanfre
La Rochelle
7th December
KO 15.15

Glasgow Warriotrs v La Rochelle
Euro Champions Cup
Scotstoun Stadium
Glasgow
14th December
KO 17.15

Both live on BT Sport


It is hard to predict what to make of these games coming up.

La Rochelle are out, albeit not mathematically, but they are out nevertheless, having lost 2 games and still to play Exeter away. It is not clear how they will view these games, though my suspicion is that they will put out a reasonable side for the home game first up and then will be less concerned about the return in Glasgow, when their focus will have switched back to the Top 14 fixtures that are coming up. If Glasgow can make any headway against them early on, their interest in the first fixture may end up being short lived as well.

Glasgow are still alive but have made life difficult for themselves by not taking any BPs from either of the games that they have played, they are likely to need to win away here and in sale to qualify and on current form, you would not be betting the mortgage on that happening. We have actually done pretty well against French sides away in recent years but this has not been as recent seasons for Glasgow, we are struggling to win and even struggling to score tries. something which has always come easy to us, even when we have lost games. A big nasty French pack may well cause us problems as well if they show any interest in the game, which is hard to tell, but if we let them get away from us, we will struggle to bring them back.

After the resting of players last week, we are surely going to go into this game with our strongest team and hope we can kick start our season. Maybe something along these lines:

1. Keeble
2. Brown
3. Fagerson Z
4. Gray
5. Cummings
6. Wilson
7. Gibbins
8. Fagerson M
9. Horne G
10. Hastings
11. Steyn
12. Johnson
13. Jones (I can but hope)
14. DTH
15. Seymour

Subs:

Seuili
Turner
Rae
McDonald - one of the few who impressed off the bench last week
Harley
Price
Horne P
Niko

I pick Jones more in hope than expectation and fully expect to see Grigg running out in his place!

These conditions are not doing Glasgow a favour, the French still have a big gnarly pack but they are also playing with a lot of skill. We need to take a leaf from their book now and hang onto the ball for our lives, every mistake will see James hoof it 60 m up the pitch!

Season defining 30 minutes for Glasgow?

Botia doing his best to demolish the whole Glasgow team!

You can't body throw a player after the whistle Barnes - FFS

Glasgow are actually playing well, they won't die wondering!

Got to be a card soon

Got to be a yellow soon

Absolutely. Far too many penalties now

That's a try!

6 pens on the trot, why no yellow?

Playing well but need someone to put some big physical carries in

that's 9 pens in a row and only now a warning

That’s bonkers, WTF Wayne?

and finally!!

Why did Horne take it out that scrum??

Ah that's why.

Should be a PT

Absolutely no game smarts from Glasgow - Fagerson picking the ball up when the scrum was marching forward for a clear PT

Brainless from Glasgow with Horne too.

Nico’s doing his best De Luca impression tonight, can’t catch anything. Howling decision from Horne mind you

Losing a scrum half when you're 5 points up isn't much of a hindrance either - Glasgow had to keep the ball in the scrum.

Jeez the distance on that kick

What a try!!!!!

Can he get the kick?

That is going to get chalked off

That's probably a red!

Not a good way to end the game unfortunately

Red card and lost the game

Heartbreak for Glasgow

Jesus wept Glasgow

Can't argue with it

A huge shame as we played so well in the second half, we really wanted that.

That's a heartbreaker

Well Matt f will be a miserable man tonight. And tomorrow. And tomorrow,

Fecc. Fecc. Feccity fecc.

Really poor from Glasgow - only got themselves to blame. They absolutely butchered the repeated scrum attack and that was the game.

If they could carry on this ineptitude over the next two weeks that would be super!

Well we are not quite out, but we would have to beat Exeter and Sale. Beating Exeter in any circumstances would be a tall order atm

That was a game we should and could have won, we are playing a lot better than at the beginning of the season, but the confidence is not completely there yet

Can't argue with the result though, we got what we deserved.

Didn’t see the game but sounds like a familiar story of errors at crucial moments and not being clinical enough. Disappointing result for Glasgow.

The wallet needs to come out and the sru/glasgow need to invest in players otherwise this could lead to a downward spiral of ospreys proportions, which given glasgows quality over the past few years would be a crying shame for Scottish rugby.

I dont necessarily think marquee signings are the answer, Glasgows best have always been the up-and-comers. Not sure bidding on Naknak was the best idea considering second row hasnt been a problem area and he's a cost we cant really afford, surely buying in another tighthead or moving sutherland from edinburgh would be better considering on the loose side kebble is made from glass and the tight side is pretty weak other than fagerson who is at best on par with others at the scrum. Frisby can take a hike when his contract ends, he's been undoubtedly expensive and as such very overpriced considering dobie has put in better shifts, he's scottish and 9 years younger.

Fullback, I'd be tempted to recruit an up and coming import. Maybe one on the cusp of intl recognition for one of the smaller nations. Failing that, are there any in the super 6 who could potentially do a job? Seymour is okay but nothing more. Definitely not a specialist.

Another left field one, should glasgow look to bring Weir back? He offers something different and whilst not an intl. player, he's definitely a good club player.

Neily, Glasgow are developing quite a problem at 10. Haircut is very good, but will be in Scotland squads so we need cover. Brandon just hasn't stepped up; he plays one or two matches which show he has the ability but then invariably has a howler and gets put back on the naughty step. Furra Linee is a good 12 who can cover 10 but I think time has him in its jaws and , like the rest of us, he won't last forever.
Who else is there?
Wee Duncy would be more consistent that Naughty Step Child that's for sure.

Kebble does worry me; he seems to get injured an awful lot. Alex Allen 100 appearances and 8 Scotland caps: that tells a story. Decent club player but just below top level. Halanukonuka is MIA almost as often as Kebble. I think Smiling Jerry did more for the team than either of them have so far.

Strangest thing I saw last night? No , not Wayne Barnes allowing La Rochelle to get away with murder. Lord Stafford, Not a Pony and Battleship Griggtempkin all played centre and the wee man was head and shoulders above the other two.

Finally, not a complaint but a query; Matt F deserved his red, no question, but play continued for about 2 1/2 minutes before Cummings "scored" in the corner. ( or maybe a minute.) When play was brought back for the penalty that time was lost, which probably proved decisive in terms of Glasgow's opportunity to win the ball back and score again. If the referee, or the laws, decree play should have stopped when Fagerson transgressed shouldn't the clock have stopped then? I'm not sure Glasgow deserved to win but they did deserve the full 80 minutes.

Not even requiring the benefit of hindsight, to go into this season with just one serviceable FH, who is likely to be away with Scotland for a decent chunk of the season, was crazy!

Maybe they had better hopes for Thompson, who in fairness looked passable on his few chances in the past. I guess the clue should have been in the few chances, the fact that they rarely played him, showed how poorly they rated him. He went into complete meltdown when put inti the limelight this season and I would be surprised if he ever plays for Glasgow again.

Our pack actually stood up pretty well over the two games and that is never easy against a top notch Frencg pack. I thought Cummings had another great game. He was imperious in the lineout and carried well. Again you do worry a bit about our depth though. Gray, Cummings and Zander all played the full 80 mins again. They have all got tremendous engines, but they are going to get burnt out very quickly if we keep playing them like that.

DR is not going to be handing over the squad to DW in anything like the state it was when he took it over but maybe he would prefer it like that. You get the feeling that a good few players might be moving on at the end of this season.

I see Matt Smith, who was very highly rated a few seasons back, but has not had a look in recently, has a highlights reel doing the rounds on social media. That is never a good sign and he won't be the only one spending a bit of time in the video editing room.