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 3.05 at Swansea.com Stadium
Saturday 1st October 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1
- These teams have met on 18 previous occasions in Wales. Glasgow have won 5 and Ospreys 11 and there have been 2 draws.
- Recent history has favoured the visitors though - the home side have only won 3 of the last 9 at (what used to be called) the Liberty Stadium.
- This will be the first time since May 2015 that Alun Wyn Jones has played in a match against Glasgow.
- Ryan Wilson has more previous appearances for Glasgow (213) than the other 7 players on the Warriors' bench combined (200).
- With an unprecedented streak of tries in 3 consecutive games, Zander Fagerson is in danger of being exiled from the prop's union. If he makes it 4 in a row he'll surely be sent to play with the fancy dans in the back row?
- A 3-Test Lion to take on the Ospreys' 2-Test Lion at scrum half, skipper Ali Price is this week's Warrior to Watch.
Teams
15 M. Nagy (11)
14 G. NORTH (31)
13 O. WATKIN (85)
12 M. Collins (19)
11 K. Giles (68)
10 G. ANSCOMBE (15)
9 R. WEBB (185) (Captain)
1 N. SMITH (151)
2 S. BALDWIN (165)
3 T. FRANCIS (16)
4 A. BEARD (107)
5 A.W. JONES (256)
6 D. LYDIATE (181)
7 J. MORGAN (34)
8 E. Roots (22)
Substitutes
16 D. LAKE (27)
17 R. Henry (16)
18 T. Botha (77)
19 R. Davies (34)
20 W. Griffiths (46)
21 R Morgan-Williams (67)
22 J. Walsh (2)
23 L. MORGAN (70)
15 Cole Forbes (26)
14 SEBASTIAN CANCELLIERE (11)
13 SIONE TUIPULOTU (22)
12 SAM JOHNSON (93)
11 RUFUS McLEAN (21)
10 Tom Jordan (2)
9 ALI PRICE (113) (Captain)
1 JAMIE BHATTI (69)
2 FRASER BROWN (124)
3 ZANDER FAGERSON (117)
4 SCOTT CUMMINGS (92)
5 RICHIE GRAY (85)
6 Gregor Brown (5)
7 Tom Gordon (54)
8 JACK DEMPSEY (24)
Substitutes
16 GEORGE TURNER (79)
17 OLI KEBBLE (79)
18 SIMON BERGHAN (13)
19 JP du Preez (1)
20 Sintu Manjezi (2)
21 RYAN WILSON (213)
22 Sean Kennedy (19)
23 DOMINGO MIOTTI (7)
(players in CAPITALS are full internationals)
Head to Head:
Back 3 - EVEN
Centres - ADV Glasgow
Half Backs - ADV Ospreys
Front Row - EVEN
Second Row - ADV Ospreys
Back Row - ADV Glasgow
Subs - ADV Glasgow
Glasgow Greetings:
Four players are in line for their first appearances of the season. Sam Johnson slots back into his familiar inside centre berth. On the bench, the experience of Simon Berghan and Sean Kennedy should bring some solidity and calmness to proceedings late on. Ryan Wilson will, of course, continue to be Wilson! Potentially this is his final chance to wind up the legend of the game that is Alun Wyn...
Matchday Milestones:
Remarkably, Alun Wyn Jones has featured in more Glasgow games than 6 of the Warriors lineup. The Welsh lock has played in 13 of these matches so far for the Ospreys - although not for more than 7 years. It's also worth noting that the Lions' captain has more career appearances against Scotland (14) than he does versus Glasgow.
This was the side when AWJ first played against the Warriors on 27th January 2006 in a game held at Old Anniesland:
15. Rory Lamont
14. Hefin O'Hare
13. Andy Craig
12. Graeme Morrison
11. Mike Roberts
10. Colin Gregor
9. Graeme Beveridge
1. Kevin Tkachuk
2. Fergus Thomson
3. Euan Murray
4. Dan Turner
5. Gregor Hayter
6. Steve Swindall
7. John Barclay
8. Jon Petrie
Substitutes
16. Eric Milligan
17. Lee Harrison
18. Craig Hamilton
19. James Eddie
20. Sam Pinder
21. Ben Cairns
22. Graydon Staniforth
Warrior to Watch:
George Horne threw down the gauntlet with a Player of the Match performance against Cardiff, so expect Ali Price to pick up where wee Dod left off. It's been a whirlwind couple of years for Ali, making himself the undisputed number 1 number 9 for both Glasgow and Scotland and topping that off with the small matter of becoming the Lions' main man at scrum half as well.
There's a definite maturity to his game, leaning in to box kicking duties when that presents the best outlet, but he's still got more than an eye for speeding the game up. With the Warriors looking more free to express themselves last week, he'll no doubt enjoy the opportunity to drive his side to produce the fastest ball possible.
The real question of course is will Ali take on the goal-kicking duties? And can he match George's success rate?
Glasgow away to Ospreys in the URC/PRO14/12:
- 5 wins
- 1 draw
- 3 losses
- 2 try BPs
- 24 points out of a possible 45 (53%)
Officials:
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU, 12th league game)
AR1: Ben Breakspear (WRU)
AR2: Carwyn Williams (WRU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)
Mr Peyper's record for 2021/22:
Matches - 7
Average penalty count - 20.6 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage - 42.4%
Average card count - 0.7 per game
Penalties per card - 28.8
Sympathy for refs can be rare currency indeed, but surely even the hardest of hearts must feel something for Mr Peyper as he finds himself with a scrum half as captain on both sides. At least it should keep the damage to his ears nice and balanced...
The South African whistler will be making his debut in a Warriors' fixture. Unusually for an experienced official he has a relatively high penalty count. In contrast though his card count is surprisingly low. There could be some in-game adjustments required as Glasgow try to figure out the man from Bloemfontein.
Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=9