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 25th November 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 1
- The Warriors boast an all international pack (plus another five capped forwards on the bench) while Ulster's backline is exclusively composed of players with Ireland caps.
- Travelling away from home has been a bit of a rarity for Ulster recently - 7 of their last 9 matches in the URC (dating back to the beginning of March) have been played at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.
- There are four club debuts in the offing across the two teams - Ben Afshar for the home side alongside James McNabney, Zac Solomon and Steven Kitshoff for the visitors.
- Three of those players will also be making their senior professional debuts, Kitshoff most certainly will not be!
- Veteran scrum half, Sean Kennedy, is the Warrior to Watch.
Teams
15 J. McKay (30)
14 S. CANCELLIERE (29)
13 S. TUIPULOTU (39)
12 S. MCDOWALL (Captain) (62)
11 K. ROWE (4)
10 T. Jordan (29)
S. Kennedy (26)
1 J. BHATTI (92)
2 G. TURNER (92)
3 Z. FAGERSON (131)
4 G. PETERSON (38)
5 S. CUMMINGS (109)
6 M. FAGERSON (98)
7 R. DARGE (35)
8 J. DEMPSEY (39)
Substitutes
16 J. MATTHEWS (55)
17 O. KEBBLE (88)
18 L. SORDONI (20)
19 R. GRAY (105)
20 S. Manjezi (13)
21 S. VAILANU (24)
22 B. Afshar (0)
23 D. WEIR (139)
15 W. ADDISON (28)
14 R. BALOUCOUNE (57)
13 J. HUME (81)
12 L. MARSHALL (166)
11 J. STOCKDALE (104)
10 B. BURNS (99)
9 J. COONEY (122)
1 E.O'SULLIVAN (107)
2 T. STEWART (17)
3 T. O'TOOLE (89)
4 K. TREADWELL (145)
5 I. HENDERSON (Captain) (141)
6 H. Sheridan (12)
7 R. Crothers (2)
8 J. McNabney (0)
Substitutes
16 Z. Solomon (0)
17 S. KITSHOFF (0)
18 M. MOORE (87)
19 A. O'Connor (181)
20 M. Rea (84)
21 D. Shanahan (90)
22 J. Flannery (8)
23 B. Moxham (29)
(players in CAPITALS are full capped internationals, numbers in brackets are previous appearances for Glasgow Warriors / Ulster)
Head to Head:
Back 3 - EVEN
Centres - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Half Backs - ADV Ulster
Front Row - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Second Row - ADV Ulster
Back Row - ADV Glasgow Warriors
Subs - EVEN
Glasgow Greetings:
This will be Jack Dempsey's first outing at Scotstoun for 204 days with the number 8 finally making his delayed return from World Cup duty six games into the campaign.
Matchday Milestones:
At the beginning of last season, Tom Jordan hadn't ever played in a URC fixture. Saturday night will see him feature in his 25th consecutive game in the league, 21 of which he has started.
Johnny Matthews will make his 20th consecutive appearance for Glasgow, while skipper, Stafford McDowall, is the only player to start all six of the Warriors' matches this season.
Warrior to Watch:
It's a big night for veteran scrum half, Sean Kennedy. The former Edinburgh man has been a steadying influence from the bench in the last two matches and his reward is the number 9 shirt for this game. This will be:
- his first start for Glasgow in any game since 21st March 2021 (980 days).
- his first start at Scotstoun since 12th March 2021 (989 days).
- his first start in front of fans at Scotstoun since 23rd November 2012 (4,020 days).
The triumvirate of George Horne, Ali Price and Jamie Dobie have dominated the starting scrum half slot in recent years and this will be the first time in 64 games someone else will fill that role. Sheba may not have the X-factor that the Scotland trio do but his scrum half fundamentals (consistency and speed of passing, box kicking, decision-making) are as solid as they come. With the right platform he will be able to bring Glasgow's exceptional backline into the game.
Glasgow at home to Ulster in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:
- 7 wins
- 2 losses
- 3 Try BPs
- 2 Losing BPs
- 33 points out of a possible 45 (73%)
The Warriors have also won two playoff semi-finals against Ulster: 16-14 in 2015; and 50-20 in 2019.
Previous match-up v Ulster at Scotstoun:
Officials:
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU, 94th league game)
AR1: Ru Campbell (SRU)
AR2: Jonny Perriam (SRU)
TMO: Wayne Davies (WRU)
Mr Whitehouse's regular season record for 2022/23:
Matches - 7
Average penalty count - 19.6 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage - 43.8%
Average card count - 1.3 per game
Penalties per card - 15.3
Mr Whitehouse has become better known for being a man in the van (or TMO if you prefer), a role he filled 9 times at the recent World Cup - including 2 Scotland games, a semi-final and the 3rd place playoff.
That focus has meant fewer games as ref in recent seasons for the Welsh whistler - so this will be his first Glasgow game for more than two years. That was when the Warriors hosted the Sharks but just nine days earlier, Mr Whitehouse also took charge of Ulster v Glasgow at the Kingspan, a game that finished 35-29 in the home side's favour but with a double bonus point return for the Warriors on the road.