Glasgow Warriors v Dragons A TMO-Free Zone please

Saturday 7:35 Scotstoun
Live on Viaplay and S4C

Well, after the shenanigans of Saturday back to normality.
I think the Dragons' fans pride at seeing so many players included in the Wales squad will turn to consternation when they send a weakened team to the home of the Once And Future Champions.
Glasgow, conversely, can put out quite a strong side despite having ...well more players in the Scotland squad than I have fingers and thumbs so I'm not exactly sure how many. Big many. Bigly.

One notable absentee may well be Fraser "Chuckles" Brown who has struggled with injuries and has just been announced as Watsonians' head coach. I think we may have seen the last of him in a Glasgow jersey. Also, up and coming hookers Angus Fraser and Gregor Hiddleston have signed new contracts.
I'll take a stab at the line-up;

Bhatti-Fraser-Sordoni Bhatti seems to be third choice for Scotland at the moment so could probably do with the game time.
Big Man Jessie- Samuels
Ferrie-Miller Mullet Ferrie looked handy v Exeter ( another 80th minute winning try overruled by the TMO )

House Elf
Ross Thompson The General seems reluctant to play him but this is the kind of game where he could earbn a few brownie points.
Jordan-Stafford Jordan has been playing a lot at 10 but is really a 12 so let's see what he can do there.

Seba-McKay-Cordero/Trotter

replacements
Dell-Hiddlestone-Kebble
Williamson
Ventner
Big Shona
Ashfar
Meatball

I think that 23 should see of a weakened Dragons without too much trouble. just no last minute TMO histrionics please.

Glasgow Warriors team to face the Dragons at Scotstoun, Saturday 17 February, kick-off 7.35pm. Tickets are still available at glasgowwarriors.org.

1 Jamie Bhatti (99)
2 Johnny Matthews (61)
3 Lucio Sordoni (24)
4 Max Williamson (7)
5 Alex Samuel (12)
6 Euan Ferrie (11)
7 Thomas Gordon (70)
8 Henco Venter (9)

9 Ben Afshar (6)
10 Ross Thompson (44)
11 Jamie Dobie (55)
12 Tom Jordan (37)
13 Stafford McDowall (C) (69)
14 Facundo Cordero (0)
15 Josh McKay (38)

Replacements

16 Angus Fraser (9)
17 Nathan McBeth (31)
18 Oli Kebble (95)
19 Ruaraidh Hart (0)
20 Sintu Manjezi (16)
21 Gregor Hiddleston (1)
22 Sean Kennedy (29)
23 Duncan Weir (142)

Unavailable for selection: Fraser Brown (knee), Gregor Brown (knee), Sebastian Cancelliere (neck), Richie Gray (bicep), Jack Mann (ankle), Ally Miller (calf), JP du Preez (knee), Ollie Smith (knee), Sione Vailanu (knee), Murphy Walker (knee)

International duty: Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, George Horne, Huw Jones, Kyle Rowe, Sione Tuipulotu, George Turner.

A little bit of a patchwork team for Glasgow, probably not surprising given the international call ups and current injuries.

Dobie comes back on the wing.

First start for Ashfar

Williamson and Samuel both start in the boiler room for the first time.

Tom Jordan at 12, which may be his best position

A debut for Cordero

Hiddleston covers the backrow with Manjezi also back from injury



You would still fancy Glasgow to beat the Drags at home, but this is far from a settled team!

Here's the Dragons team:

Dragons: Cai Evans; Jared Rosser, Steff Hughes (capt), Aneurin Owen, Oli Andrew; Angus O'Brien, Dane Blacker; Rhodri Jones, James Benjamin, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Matthew Screech, Sean Lonsdale, George Young, Dan Lydiate.

Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Aki Seiuli, Luke Yendle, Barny Langton-Cryer, Sam Scarfe, Che Hope, Will Reed, Joe Westwood.

The backs are not too bad. However, our pack is extremely weak. Our best back row is probably Wainwright, Basham and Harri Keddie. The one we've picked is a significant step down, unless Lydiate miraculously finds the his form from 8 years or so ago! 2nd row is weak. I imagine the front row will get a right tuning too!

It's going to be a long day at the office.

On another note, this Origin Round thing is a great idea I feel. Just showed my son (9 years old) the video on the link below where the Dragons team for Glasgow are introducing themselves and their first clubs, and he was amazed as a load of these players are either originally from the same club as him or from clubs he plays against now! It's great for showing kids that the pathway to pro rugby can start at local grassroots clubs, something maybe they don't see or can't visualise.

https://twitter.com/dragonsrugby/status/1758461224176738768

Now that's a decent start!

Josh McKay, wearing Everton socks runs through the whole of the Drags defence

7-0 Glasgow

Oh dear, this could be a long night for the Drags. Tackling seems to be optional!

Lord Stafford wanders through the Drags defence

14-0 Glasgow

Good start Dragaons! Ffs

could be a pasting.....to be honest i was expecting this. Its is some good exposure for youngsters but only if they actually learn and physically develop. At the moment its men vs boys

starting to think the weather is doing the dragons a favour. Lots of balls dropped by glasgow at the moment

Jez, that was a walk in in if Fraser hsd passed!

As expected Coghlan is a much better hooker. We’ve nothing to lose in starting him and Yendle for every game. Benjamin and Coleman aren’t pro standard.

Glasgow making slightly hard work of it now, so much possession and field position but no more points on the board

Drags been defending like crazy though, which may take its toll later on

And the dam finally breaks

A sublime line from Lord Stafford puts McKay over

21-0 Glasgow

Long way back for the Drags now

Afshar has a very crisp pass, but has fumbled a few at the base.

A young player learning his trade I guess

A great team try brings up the BP

Afshar gets the score but fabulous assists from Dobie, Jordan and Venter

28-0 Glasgow

Well Drags string a good set of phases together and get a score, if maybe a bit of obstruction!

This one gets chalked off and back to the penalty advantage

Ouch, forgot to tap the penalty!

Amateur hour from the Dragons. Well, amateur 80 mins really!

Well done Drags, another decent passage of play and this time they get over the line

28-7 Glasgow

White line fever

How did we not score then!

Well the Drags try seems to have kicked Glasgow back into life. A multi phase move gets Cordero over in the corner for a debut try

33-7 Glasgow

McDowell naking some big statement tonight!

Could he be playing his way into the Scotland team?

40-7 Glasgow

Stafford McDowell MoM

Plenty of contenders but hard to argue with that.

Drags looked game, especially their youngsters off the bench, but the team badly needs some hard-nosed pros to show them the way.

Well done Glasgow, although it was only ever going to go one way

These days I think most Dragons fans would be happy with us just being more competitive! Not even thinking about a win against the bigger teams away from home, but would love us to take more teams to the wire and give them a bloody nose. Once again we see players who are just not pro standard. They would never make it as pros in other nations. Or are they just badly coached? A bit of both maybe?

The easy suggestion is to reduce teams and pool resources, but I saw a quote today that struck home: around the same time that Wales went regional, Ireland were contemplating binning Connacht and concentrating their resources into the other 3. Instead, they invested in Connacht and now have 4 good, competitive franchises. So I think we just need to do better with what we have and put more into them, rather than less (easier said than done). Coaches with a better pedigree and demonstrable records of success would be a good starting point, and perhaps where to spend more money

We are seeing the fruits of not having a defence coach. Ludicrous decision to think Flanagan could double hat and then to put Sam Hobbs as temp. That said, you can't coach a system to mask people's individual ability fully. The amount of missed tackles was a disgrace (24/50 in the first half or something).

I can't believe that our academy is that bad, that we have to play a player conditioned for hooker in the backrow and a limited player like Lydiate at 8.

Maybe some of the Dragons took their club socks too literally and regressed to amateur players.

Morning peeps, just watched the game (VP's lunch yesterday, then watched Pipetto play for the seconds, felt that watching the live match all evening would be pushing MrsPip's patience too far); Stafford was immense, Jordan looked a better 12 than he is a 10, Dobie was lively. I know the Drags were down to bare bones but that was still an impressive performance.

Luvvies toiled against Zebre...The Rugby Club shone in the wet and windy west. Compare and contrast.