You can read more of Disco's thoughts on Glasgow's PRO14 - including the Rainbow Cup - and European campaigns, Scotland's international fortunes, and much, much more at his excellent blog On Top of the Moon.
KO 8.15 at Scotstoun Stadium
Friday 7th May 2021
Live on Premier Sports 1
- This is the 32nd match in the 1872 Cup series. Glasgow have won 16, Edinburgh 14 and there has been 1 draw (the Warriors also won a non-1872 Cup clash at Murrayfield in August 2020).
- There are 17 changes from the 30 players who started the last time these two sides met at Scotstoun in January.
- There will be 29 capped internationals on show on Friday night - and the majority of the uncapped players will have ambitions to make Scotland's touring squad this summer.
Teams
15 Cole Forbes
14 Ratu Tagive
13 Nick Grigg
12 Stafford McDowall
11 Kyle Steyn
10 Ross Thompson
9 Ali Price
1 Oli Kebble
2 Fraser Brown
3 Zander Fagerson
4 Robert Harley
5 Scott Cummings
6 Fotu Lokotui
7 Tom Gordon
8 Ryan Wilson (Captain)
Substitutes
16 George Turner
17 Tom Lambert
18 Enrique Pieretto
19 Richie Gray
20 Kiran McDonald
21 George Horne
22 Peter Horne
23 Nikola Matawalu
Edinburgh
15 Damien Hoyland
14 Eroni Sau
13 Mark Bennett
12 George Taylor
11 Duhan van der Merwe
10 Nathan Chamberlain
9 Henry Pyrgos
1 Pierre Shoeman (Co-Captain)
2 David Cherry
3 Willem Nel
4 Jamie Hodgson
5 Grant Gilchrist (Co-Captain)
6 Jamie Ritchie
7 Luke Crosbie
8 Viliame Mata
Substututes
16 Stuart McInally
17 Boan Venter
18 Lee-Roy Atalifo
19 Marshall Sykes
20 Mesu Kunavula
21 Charlie Shiel
22 Charlie Savala
23 James Johnstone
Head-to-Head
15 ADV Glasgow Warriors
14 ADV Edinburgh
13 EVEN
12 ADV Edinburgh
11 ADV Edinburgh
10 EVEN
9 ADV Glasgow Warriors
1 ADV Edinburgh
2 ADV Glasgow Warriors
3 ADV Glasgow Warriors
4 ADV Glasgow Warriors
5 ADV Glasgow Warriors
6 ADV Edinburgh
7 ADV Edinburgh
8 ADV Edinburgh
Substitutes
16 ADV Edinburgh
17 ADV Edinburgh
18 ADV Glasgow Warriors
19 ADV Glasgow Warriors
20 EVEN
21 ADV Glasgow Warriors
22 ADV Glasgow Warriors
23 ADV Glasgow Warriors
Tale of the Tape:
BACKS
Tries
Glasgow Warriors - 50
Edinburgh - 79
Appearances
Glasgow Warriors - 269
Edinburgh - 316
Average age
Glasgow Warriors - 25.9
Edinburgh -27.2
Capped players
Glasgow Warriors - 3
Edinburgh - 5
FORWARDS
Pack weight
Glasgow Warriors - 902kg
Edinburgh - 891kg
Appearances
Glasgow Warriors - 818
Edinburgh - 642
Average age
Glasgow Warriors - 28.4
Edinburgh - 28.1
Capped players
Glasgow Warriors - 7
Edinburgh - 5
SUBSTITUTES
Appearances
Glasgow Warriors - 546
Edinburgh - 274
Average age
Glasgow Warriors - 27.9
Edinburgh - 26.3
Capped players
Glasgow Warriors - 6
Edinburgh - 3
Glasgow Greetings / Edinburgh Introductions:
Warriors' players Cole Forbes and Fotu Lokotui are getting their first taste of 1872 Cup action on Friday night. Tom Lambert could join them from the bench.
The visitors' replacements Boan Venter, Lee-Roy Atalifo, Mesu Kunavula and Charlie Savala have also never played in a Glasgow v Edinburgh match before.
Scotland players Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Ali Price and George Turner haven't played at Scotstoun since the previous game against Edinburgh in January. That pales into insignificance compared to the break for Kyle Steyn who hasn't been able to feature in a home match since Valentine's Day 2020.
Once A Warrior / Erstwhile Edinburghers:
Warrior numbers 184 (Henry Pyrgos - 147 appearances) and 193 (Mark Bennett - 66 apps) will be on the opposing side on Friday. George Turner used to play for the bad guys (14 games for Edinburgh).
Milestones:
Zander Fagerson will play his 100th game for Glasgow on Friday night. At 25 years and 109 days he will be the youngest Warriors' prop to achieve this feat. He will be four and a half years younger than the average age of the other props who have played 100 games for the club.
Former Warrior, Henry Pyrgos, will play his 50th game for Edinburgh having moved to the capital at the start of the 2018/19 season. Henry is rapidly closing in a combined 200 matches played for the two Scottish pro teams.
Warrior to Watch / Edinburgher to Eyeball:
Chris Harris has been a fixture for Scotland at outside centre over the last two years. With the Gloucester man off to South Africa this summer and Huw Jones recovering from surgery on his foot there is a possible route back to the national side's number 13 shirt for the two outside centres on show at Scotstoun.
Their stats in this season's PRO14 are probably the opposite way round from what might have been expected. Nick Grigg has shown the attacking mojo, scoring 4 tries and assisting another 3 as well as winning the head to head for clean breaks and metres gained. Mark Bennett has the edge in defence with the superior tackle completion percentage and 4 turnovers won. Neither is a primary kicking option but Squiggsy has been developing this area of his game and has more metres kicking from hand than Bennett.
Both men will know that a big finish to the season could put them back into the Scotland squad for their tour to Romania and Georgia.
Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh at Scotstoun in the PRO12/14 era:
- 7 wins
- 2 losses
- 2 Try BPs
- 30 points out of a possible 45 (67%)
Most recent match-up:
Officials:
Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 10th competition game)
AR1: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
AR2: Fin Brown (SRU)
TMO: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Mr Jones's regular season record for 2019/20 in the PRO14:
Matches - 2 (all refs - 101)
Average penalty count - 22.0 per game (all refs - 19.1)
Home penalty percentage - 45% (all refs - 52%)
Average card count - 1.0 per game (all refs - 1.3)
Penalties per card - 22 (all refs - 15)
Mr Jones made his Warriors' debut earlier this year in a feisty clash when Glasgow took on Munster at Scotstoun. The Welsh whistler yellow carded both skippers that evening with Billy Holland and Ryan Wilson sent to the sin bin within the space of six second half minutes. Maybe Edinburgh are just hedging their bets by naming co-captains. Or maybe they're just doubling the chances of the ref finding someone to be annoyed by...