You can read more of Disco's thoughts on Glasgow's URC and European campaigns, Scotland's international fortunes, and much, much more at his excellent blog On Top of the Moon.
KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Saturday 4th December 2021
Live on Premier Sports 1
- Dragons 23-22 victory last December is the only win by a Welsh side at Scotstoun in the last two years.
- There are only two survivors in the Warriors' XV from the starting lineup in that defeat - Robert Harley and Ryan Wilson (Aki Seuili had the Glasgow number 1 shirt that night but will be on the opposite side on Saturday).
- Dragons' players Jamie Roberts and Tavis Knoyle have both been around so long that they have previously played against Glasgow at Firhill. Richie Gray, Robert Harley and Ryan Wilson are the only Warriors who played at the club's old home.
- Kyle Steyn's only start in the 13 shirt since the PRO14 Final at Celtic Park came in November 2019 against Zebre. In the last two and a half years he has started 19 games on the wing.
- Glasgow's Test Lion Ali Price is the Warrior to Watch.
Teams
15 Josh McKay
14 Sebastian Cancelliere
13 Kyle Steyn
12 Sione Tuipulotu
11 Cole Forbes
10 Ross Thompson
9 Ali Price
1 Oli Kebble
2 George Turner
3 Zander Fagerson
4 Robert Harley
5 Richie Gray
6 Ryan Wilson (Captain)
7 Rory Darge
8 Jack Dempsey
Substitutes
16 Johnny Matthews
17 Nathan McBeth
18 Murray McCallum
19 Lewis Bean
20 Kiran McDonald
21 Jamie Dobie
22 Domingo Miotti
23 Nick Grigg
Dragons
15 Jordan Williams
14 Jonah Holmes
13 Aneurin Owen
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Rio Dyer
10 Sam Davies
9 Dan Babos
1 Aki Seiuli
2 Ellis Shipp
3 Leon Brown
4 Will Rowlands
5 Joe Maksymiw
6 Harrison Keddie (Captain)
7 Ollie Griffiths
8 Aaron Wainwright
Substitutes
16 James Benjamin
17 Josh Reynolds
18 Mesake Doge
19 Joe Davies
20 Huw Taylor
21 Tavis Knoyle
22 Josh Lewis
23 Adam Warren
Head to Head:
Back 3 - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Centres - ADV Dragons
Half Backs - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Front Row - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Second Row - ADV Dragons
Back Row - EVEN
Subs - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow Greetings:
Josh McKay will be Warrior number 337 and Domingo Miotti will become number 338 when he comes off the bench. That will take the number of club debuts this season up to 10.
There will also be home debuts for both Sebastian Cancelliere and Nathan McBeth who have previously played away fixtures in Italy.
Once A Warrior:
Aki Seiuli's time with Glasgow was sadly fairly brief - just over a year and a half with a Covid interruption to boot - but Warrior number 308 made a sizeable impression with his all action style and relentless workrate. The big prop only got to play half a dozen games in front of the Warriors' faithful and there was no chance for a send off at the end of last season so hopefully he will get a warm ovation when he leaves the Scotstoun pitch on Saturday evening - in a Dragons' loss of course!
Warrior to Watch:
As the only player ever to start a Lions' Test match while a Glagow Warriors' player, Ali Price occupies a pretty unique place in the club's history. It's back down to the nitty gritty on Saturday though as the scrum half makes just his seventh start at Scotstoun since the end of the 2018/19 season. (In that period he has started 13 matches at Murrayfield - 10 for Scotland and 3 for Glasgow.)
The half back pairing of Price and Ross Thompson is the 5th different combination used by the Warriors in 7 matches this season. As things stand, it's likely that Danny Wilson will view this as his current first-choice pairing and he needs this duo to set the tone.
Seven years into his Glasgow career, Ali is one of the senior players now - he has more previous appearances for the Warriors (98) than the rest of the backline combined (75). The East Stand's favourite will have a crucial role to play in the month of December. The Dragons' fixture kicks off a series of very important matches and the club will need their experienced heads to the fore during this gap in Scotland duties.
Glasgow at home to Dragons in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:
- 7 wins
- 2 losses
- 5 try BPs
- 1 losing BP
- 34 points out of a possible 45 (76%)
Previous match-up:
Officials:
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 54th league game)
AR1: Ben Blain (SRU)
AR2: Dunx McClement (SRU)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)
Mr Murphy's regular season record for 2020/21:
Matches - 18
Average penalty count - 21.6 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage - 45.6%
Average card count - 1.5 per game
Penalties per card - 14.3
This could be a perfect storm - the two teams with the worst disciplinary records in the United Rugby Championship and a referee who isn't averse to dishing out the cards.
Mr Murphy was a regular for the Warriors last season, taking charge of 5 of their fixtures. In that time he issued a red card and six yellows to Glasgow players. Cole Forbes in particular will be keen to avoid an unwanted hat-trick having so far been sin binned both times he has played in fixtures officiated by Mr Murphy.
Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=3