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May 19, 2023

Toulon v Glasgow Warriors

Posted by Editor on May 19, 2023 07:08 PM | No comments | Print | E-mail author

Kyle Steyn is the Warrior to Watch
Disco looks ahead to Glasgow's Challenge Cup Final meeting with Toulon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin

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 8.00 at Aviva Stadium
Friday 19th May 2023
Live on BT Sport 1

- Locks JP du Preez and Mathieu Tanguy are the only uncapped players among the 30 who will start the final on Friday night, with 10 different Test nations represented by the 28 capped internationals:
* Scotland - 12
* France - 5
* Argentina - 2
* Fiji - 2
* Samoa - 2
* Georgia - 1
* Italy - 1
* South Africa - 1
* Tonga - 1
* Wales - 1
- Glasgow will run out at the Aviva Stadium for the first time in their history. They played Leinster twice (and lost twice...) at Lansdowne Road which occupied the same site prior to it being demolished in 2007.
- The Aviva will be the 92nd different venue the Warriors have played a competitive match at during the professional era.
- Glasgow's starting pack is listed at a combined weight of 952kgs, their second heaviest selection of the season (just behind 954kgs v Scarlets at home in the URC) and 36kgs heavier than their opponents' eight.
- Remarkably, Toulon's veteran backs replacements trio (Benoit Paillaugue, Ihaia West and Jeremy Sinzelle) have played a combined tally of more than 800 club matches in their careers without winning a single Test cap between them.
- Glasgow's inspirational leader, Kyle Steyn, is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

TOULON

15 C. KOLBE (26)

14 J. WAINIQOLO (9)
13 W. NAYACALEVU (35)
12 D. PAIA'AUA (13)
11 G. VILLIERE (12)

10 D. BIGGAR (80)
9 B. SERIN (46)

1 D. PRISO (44)
2 T. BAUBIGNY (29)
3 B. GIGASHVILI (22)
4 M. Tanguy (28)
5 B. ALAINU'UESE (22)
6 C. DU PREEZ (35)
7 C. OLLIVON (Captain) (23)
8 S. PARISSE (88)

Substitutes

16 C. TOLOFUA (47)
17 J.B. GROS (19)
18 K. BROOKES (51)
19 F. ISA (21)
20 M. BASTAREAUD (76)
21 B. Paillaugue (58)
22 I. West (30)
23 J. Sinzelle (59)

Glasgow Warriors

15 O. SMITH (7)

14 S. CANCELLIERE (4)
13 H. JONES (24)
12 S. TUIPULOTU (11)
11 K.STEYN (c) (17)

10 D. MIOTTI (5)
9 G. HORNE (26)

1 J. BHATTI (25)
2 F. BROWN (29)
3 Z. FAGERSON (34)
4 J.P. du Preez (9)
5 S. CUMMINGS (23)
6 M.FAGERSON (23)
7 S. VAILANU (13)
8 J. DEMPSEY (10)

Substitutes

16 J. Matthews (10)
17 N. McBeth (8)
18 S. BERGHAN (36)
19 R. GRAY (51)
20 L. Bean (13)
21 R. DARGE (8)
22 A. PRICE (40)
23 S. McDowall (6)

(players in CAPITALS are full capped internationals, numbers in brackets are previous appearances in European competitions)

Head to Head:
Back 3 - ADV Toulon
Centres - ADV Glasgow
Half Backs - ADV Toulon
Front Row - ADV Glasgow
Second Row - ADV Glasgow
Back Row - EVEN
Subs - ADV Toulon

Changes from Challenge Cup semi-final lineups:
Three weeks ago Glasgow travelled to Parc Y Scarlets and defeated their hosts 35-17. They have made 4 changes to the starting XV from that semi-final victory:

12/13 - Jones for McDowall with Tuipulotu moving to 13
10 - Miotti for Jordan
2 - Brown for Turner
6 - M. Fagerson for Darge
At the last four stage, Toulon shut out Benetton in a 23-0 triumph, despite the French side playing for 74 minutes with 14 men after Charles Ollivon's early sending off. They have named an unchanged lineup from that previous outing in the Challenge Cup.

Glasgow Greetings:
This will be Fraser Brown's first appearance of the season in the Challenge Cup. The Scotland hooker played in 17 of the club's 19 URC fixtures but hasn't featured in European competition prior to this weekend.

Once A Warrior:
Warrior number 273, Brian Alainu'uese, made an instant impact at Glasgow, featuring in 17 out of the 18 the games he was available for after arriving 8 weeks into the 2016/17 campaign (a couple of suspensions did take him out of contention for 3 matches...)

Somewhere in the multiverse, injuries didn't intervene for Big Brian in seasons 2017/18 and 2018/19; he racked up a century of appearances for the Warriors instead of Toulon; and he was capped by Scotland after becoming residency qualified around the time of the 2019 World Cup!

Matchday Milestones:
Johnny Matthews plays his 50th match for Glasgow. After only featuring once in the club's first 5 fixtures of this season, the Scouser has battled his way into becoming a fixture in the 23, featuring in the last 14 games in a row (8 starts and 6 subs). He needs a try at the Aviva to keep up his career average of a score for every two outings in a Warriors' shirt.

Since missing the opening game of the season, JP du Preez has been named in all 26 matchday squads selected by the Warriors.

Tom Jordan is absent from the Glasgow lineup for the first time since 14 January against Perpignan.

Warrior to Watch:
Glasgow have been fortunate enough to have some outstanding captains since becoming a club in 1996. Among others, future Lion, Gordon Bulloch, started things off, leading his side into the pro era; Alastair Kellock took the Warriors from bottom of the league to PRO12 Champions; Callum Gibbins was the onfield avatar of the Rennie era; while Cully's co-captain Ryan Wilson remained and had to help guide the club through some of the most challenging times in their history.

While it may be just his first season in the role, Kyle Steyn has made every effort to live up to the standards of those who went before and drive Glasgow to new heights in their performances and results. Taking over after last season's debacle in Dublin, even someone as positive as Kyle might not have dared to dream that the Warriors' 2022/23 campaign would end in the same city with the club's first ever European final.

Along the way, Steyno has inspired the players, fans and community with both his words and actions. He hasn't let his personal standards slip either. Some players can find the weight of being captain impacts on their own performances but Kyle is close to a season high for tries scored and deservedly stepped into the Scotland 14 shirt during the Six Nations, playing a big role in some famous victories.

The former Scotland 7s player was rested for both Perpignan games but has played all 400 minutes of Glasgow’s other Challenge Cup games so far this season. The loss against Munster two weeks ago was the first time in 11 matches the Warriors had lost with Kyle as skipper. The 1872 Cup. The Scottish-Italian Shield. Top 4 in the URC. A European final. No matter what, Steyno can look back on this season and the club’s huge strides forward with immense pride. A second major trophy in the Warriors’ history would set the seal on just what an achievement this has all been.

Glasgow's finals appearances:
PRO12 Final, 31/05/14 at The RDS (report)
Leinster 34
T: Kirchner (2), Jennings, D'Arcy
C: Gopperth (4)
P: Gopperth (2)
Glasgow Warriors 12
P: Russell (4)

PRO12 final, 30/05/15 at Kingspan Stadium (report)
Munster 13
T: Smith
C: Keatley
P: Keatley (2)
Glasgow Warriors 31
T: Harley, van der Merwe, Pyrgos, Russell
C: Russell (4)
P: Weir

PRO14 final, 25/05/19 at Celtic Park (report)
Glasgow Warriors 15
T: M. Fagerson, Stewart
C: Hastings
P: Hastings
Leinster 18
T: Ringrose, Healy
C: Sexton
P: Sexton (2)

The club's most famous day, of course, came on 30th May 2015 - the apotheosis of the Kellock and Townsend eras for the Warriors. OTOTM'S recollection of that greatest of days are recorded in these playoff memories.

Missed part 1 of this preview? Check it out here, with plenty of pre-match stats as well as Wayne Barnes' place in Warriors' folklore.

Previous Matches with Toulon
Friday May 19 2023
Toulon 43 19 Glasgow Warriors Match Report
Saturday January 18 2014
Glasgow Warriors 8 15 RC Toulon Match Report
Sunday October 13 2013
RC Toulon 51 28 Glasgow Warriors Match Report