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 5.15 at Swansea.com Stadium
Saturday 11th November 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 2
- Glasgow been beaten on their last 2 trips to Swansea. They haven't lost 3 in a row away to the Ospreys since the Welsh side's Galacticos era - a spell in which it took the Warriors more than 8 years to manage their first victory on the road against the Os.
- In fact, the Warriors recent record in Wales is pretty poor across the board. They have managed just 2 victories from 8 matches in the league since the start of the 2019/20 season (both at Dave Parade, 1 versus Cardiff and 1 against the Dragons) having recorded 17 wins and 3 draws in their previous 30 matches on Welsh soil.
- There are just 8 returning starters from the last time these sides met, a little over a year ago.
- Adam Beard has only been substituted once in his last 22 starts for Ospreys, leaving the pitch with 2 minutes remaining against Scarlets on Boxing Day.
- Gray has been rolling back the years in recent seasons and he is this week's Warrior to Watch.
Teams
15 M. Nagy (28)
14 L. MORGAN (88)
13 O. WATKIN (93)
12 K. WILLIAMS (14)
11 M. Protheroe (33)
10 J. Walsh (19)
9 R. Morgan-Williams (80)
1 N. SMITH (169)
2 D. LAKE (39)
3 B. Warren (6)
4 R. DAVIES (57)
5 A. BEARD (109)
6 H. Deaves-Small (15)
7 J. TIPURIC (201)
8 M. Morris (80)
Substitutes
16 E. Lewis (3)
17 G. Phillips (15)
18 T. Botha (104)
19 J. Fender (6)
20 J. Ratti (12)
21 L. Davies (3)
22 G. NORTH(41)
23 D. Edwards (0)
15 O. SMITH (34)
14 S. CANCELLIERE (27)
13 S. TUIPULOTU (37)
12 S. MCDOWALL (Captain) (60)
11 K. ROWE (2)
10 D. WEIR (138)
9 J. DOBIE (54)
1 J. BHATTI (90)
2 J. MATTHEWS (53)
3 L. SORDONI (18)
4 S. Manjezi (11)
5 R. GRAY (103)
6 M. FAGERSON (96)
7 S. VAILANU (22)
8 H. Venter (3)
Substitutes
16 A. Fraser (6)
17 A. DELL (5)
18 E. PIERETTO (31)
19 G. PETERSON (36)
20 A. Samuel (9)
21 A. Miller (16)
22 S. Kennedy (24)
23 T. Jordan (27)
Players in BLOCK CAPITALS are full capped internationals. Numbers in brackets are previous appearances for Ospreys / Glasgow.
Head to Head:
Back 3 - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Centres - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Half Backs - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Front Row - EVEN
Second Row - ADV Ospreys
Back Row - ADV Ospreys
Subs - EVEN
Glasgow Greetings:
There's the a big welcome back for a quartet of players who feature for the first time this season:
Allan Dell - first appearance since 22nd April 2023
Sean Kennedy - first appearance since 25th February 2023
Sintu Manjezi - first appearance since 30th December 2022
Enrique Pieretto - first appearance since 1st April 2022
Duncan Weir will make his first start for more than 9 months and just his 4th outing wearing the 10 shirt in the last year and a half.
Matchday Milestones:
This will be Stafford McDowall's 50th appearance in the URC / PRO14. He will join George Horne and Duncan Weir as the only backs in the current squad to reach this mark for Glasgow.
Warrior to Watch:
In his 16th(!) season as a pro rugby player and with more than 320 matches under his belt, Richie Gray is still putting in the work. In particular, he still rules the skies at the lineout with 16 takes from just 2 matches so far this season.
The elder Gray has certainly reached veteran status and with RWC preparations and matches under his belt, his minutes this season will need to be carefully managed. The big man has been able to make 20+ starts the last couple of seasons = the first time he'd managed that since 2015/16 and 2016/17.
RG seems to have thrived in his second spell with Glasgow, and consistent game and performances have allowed him to win back his Scotland starting jersey after an extended absence. Now we just need the Warriors to convince wee brother Jonny to make a similar triumphant return and team up with his older sibling next season...
Glasgow away to Ospreys in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:
- 5 wins
- 1 draw
- 4 losses
- 2 try BPs
= 24 points out of a possible 50 (48%)
Previous match-up at the Swansea.com Stadium:
Officials:
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
AR1: Gwyn Morris (WRU)
AR2: John Darcy (WRU)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)
Sig. Piardi's record for 2022/23:
Matches - 17
Average penalty count - 22.7 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage - 42.2%
Average card count - 2.0 per game
Penalties per card - 11.3
This is Sig. Piardi's first game of the season after his recent return from the World Cup where he was part of the Assistant Referees group.
It will be his fifth time in charge of a Warriors' game with Glasgow's historic win over Munster at Thomond Park and loss to the same side in the URC playoffs being his most recent encounters with the club.
29 of the Italian official's last 34 club matches have seen at least one card brandished - there is a high probability that someone is getting sin binned or sent off on Saturday.