Benetton Rurby v Glasgow Warriors Saturday 4th January 2020

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Benetton Rugby v Glasgow warriors
Stadio Monigo
Treviso

Sat 4th Jan 2020
Ko 2pm CET


This is going to be a tricky game for Glasgow and one that they really do need to win if they are going to be in with a shout for the playoffs at the end of the season.It is made even trickier in that SRU rest protocols are likely to kick in and mean a few key players will need to sit this one out, whilst Benetton, being out of the Champs cup and also in need of a win, will fancy this one and load their deck.

Trips to Treviso are rarely straightforward these days for any visitors, but the Italians do still blow hot and cold and have not really hit the heights of last season yet, understandable given the players they gave up for WC duty and who have taken a while to get back up to speed in the league.

Full strength Glasgow, playing the way we played over the two derby games, I feel would win this as despite the result, we did play some of our best rugby of the season so far and you can make a case that the form is starting to come along a bit. Unfortunately we have left ourselves with an awful lot to do.

So who will we see in the matchday squad? My guess is something like this:

1. Seuili
2. Turner
3. Nicol - whoes confidence will no doubt be shot after not moving off the bench for the past three games!
4. Gray - both him and Cummings need a rest in all honesty but can we go out and win there with neither of them?
5. Swinson - would go for McDonald but he may still be injured
6. Harley
7. Gordon - really deserves a start
8. Wilson
9. Horne G
10. Horne P
11. Tagive
12. Johnson
13. Jones - has not played that much, so may not need to rest
14. Steyn
15. Jacko

Subs:

Keeble
Stewart
A TH prop - not sure about this one as I think Rae and Nuke are still injured, an academy TH?
Davidson - deserves a chance
Ashe
Dobie
Grigg
Niko

So Cummings, Hastings, Brown and Fagerson Z to get a rest in this one and fagerson M still suspended.

Bryce for OC 6Ns 2020!

What a win from Glasgow - was not expecting that at all! They looked like the Glasgow of old - full of confidence.

Horne's kicking is utter guff though.

Also Steyn has got a bit taller during the match

and Davidson in for no. 6

It's a rout!

This is like watching the old Glasgow!

38-19 Glasgow

BigGee wrote:and Niko wraps it up with our 5th try

Done you Edinburgh boys a favour by taking away their BP as well!

31-19 Glasgow

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:Just think of how much better the players around him are playing though....

What a great win and boy did a few players stand up and play well

Flockhart and Gordon in the backrow were incredible and it makes a mockery of why we have seen so little of them this year so far.

You would have to say Grigg played well also, hopefully his head knock is not so bad, but I am sure he won't be playing next weekend.

Johnson probably had his best game for a while as well and the speed pete Horne moved the ball away from the breakdown just gave them problems all afternoon.

I actually felt we played really well in the two derby games and there were some signs that the form was starting to come. It most certainly arrived today!

Flockhart had some big carries.

RDW wrote:Flockhart had some big carries.

But a massive defensive shift as well, our backrow (even Wilson) just were immense at the breakdown.

I would like to see Flockhart and maybe Gordon, get their reward with a big game start next weekend. I am not confident that DR will do it though!

Who needs Jonny Gray anyway!

With Davidson and Cummings, McDonald showing promise, Harley able to cover and hopefully Naka or RG coming back with Sykes to come up from academy, we are not so bad in the row.

Losing JG is symbolic of us as a club, in that bigger clubs can pick off our best players.

It is also fair to say that we won't miss Jonny as much as we missed Finn and Hoggy!

George Horne MoM

Would have been Flockhart for me, but can't really complain, lots of contenders and Georgie had a great game.

This may be the strangest thing I'll say today ….but that was a very good preparation for Execeterr next week.
Benetton play very much like an English side; all set piece, driving mauls and pick and go in our 22.
Hopefully Ragnar The Pretty is back next week. Young Nicol was comprehensively schooled today. SueEllen complained during the wek that there were no competitive scrums at the Library last week, due to Luvvies shenanigans and weak refereeing, I wonder if he felt Benetton were competitive enough today
Petrus rescued us in the scrum but, bless him, in the loose he looked like the fat boys I used to pack down with; wading through treacle and praying for someone to knock on. Kebble just looked out of condition.

It took me a while to work out why the line outs looked weird: our hooker was hitting his jumpers.

Furra Linee had a good game; better with ball in hand than kicking it but he comes out on the credit side for me.

It would be hard to pick out a poor performance and hopefully this will feed into the preparation for next week.

Grigg will deffo miss that one.

I see, also, that Bryce actually had to play for his money this week Whatever next?

jimbopip wrote:This may be the strangest thing I'll say today ….but that was a very good preparation for Execeterr next week.
Benetton play very much like an English side; all set piece, driving mauls and pick and go in our 22.
Hopefully Ragnar The Pretty is back next week. Young Nicol was comprehensively schooled today. SueEllen complained during the wek that there were no competitive scrums at the Library last week, due to Luvvies shenanigans and weak refereeing, I wonder if he felt Benetton were competitive enough today
Petrus rescued us in the scrum but, bless him, in the loose he looked like the fat boys I used to pack down with; wading through treacle and praying for someone to knock on. Kebble just looked out of condition.

It took me a while to work out why the line outs looked weird: our hooker was hitting his jumpers.

Furra Linee had a good game; better with ball in hand than kicking it but he comes out on the credit side for me.

It would be hard to pick out a poor performance and hopefully this will feed into the preparation for next week.

Grigg will deffo miss that one.

I see, also, that Bryce actually had to play for his money this week Whatever next?

Aye, according to the commentary Bryce Jones had a stormer.

A good afternoon for Glasgow just got even better, as Zebre crush the Cheetahs

Not sure if that offends the laws of nature, but we will tak it all day long. Cheetahs may not find the wins quite so easy in Europe in the middle of winter!

Grigg was apparently well enough to fly home with the rest of the squad last night.

Good news all round, but a few weeks on the sidelines beckons for him now. With a decent break after the euro games, he should hopefully have time to recover.

Opens the door up for Jones to get the shirt too leading up to 6N.

It is just what Shuggy needs, a decent run in the team. Hopefully he and Scotland will benefit from it.