Need to Know: Lyon v Glasgow Warriors, Champions Cup match preview 2018/19

KO 1.00pm GMT (2.00pm local time)
Matmut Stadium de Gerland
Saturday 8th December
Live on BT Sport 3

Champions Cup stats:

• Glasgow have won 1 and lost 7 of their games when they been away from home in the Champions Cup for Round 3.
• That solitary win came against Racing 92 in the 2016/17 tournament.
• With a final round match away to Saracens looming at the end of the pool stages, both legs of the double header against Lyon are essentially must wins for the Warriors if they want to have a shot at progressing to the quarter finals.
• There are 20 capped players in Glasgow’s matchday 23 (Lyon – 12).
  

  ---

---

Starting XV stats:

BACKS
18   Champions Cup tries   29
117   Champions Cup appearances   139
30.0   Average age   27.3
5   Capped players   7

FORWARDS
880kg   Pack weight   902kg
555kg   Tight 5 weight   592kg
81   Champions Cup appearances   114
28.6   Average age   26.2
4   Capped players   5

Glasgow Greetings:

A welcome return to Warriors’ action for Stuart Hogg after a 13-week absence. In his two outings so far this season Hoggy has managed a game-winning drop goal against Connacht plus a try versus Munster. He’ll be desperate to get back in amongst the action on Saturday. The man from Hawick will start alongside Tommy Seymour and DTH van der Merwe in the back 3 for the 12th time – but this will be the first such occasion in a European match.

Matchday Milestones:

Game number 40 in the Heineken Cup for Robert Harley. Big Bad Bob is just the second player to reach this mark for Glasgow and is now one behind Gordon Bulloch’s all-time record of 41 appearances in this competition for the club.

Warrior to Watch:

Adam Hastings has seized the opportunity presented by Finn Russell’s departure at the end of last season. The junior half of the Hornstings pairing won the 10 shirt for the opening game of the season and has held it for all bar one of the games he has been available for. His ability as a playmaker extraordinaire has been showcased throughout this campaign but never more so than while pulling the strings during Glasgow’s last European outing against Cardiff Blues where he was the beating heart of a dominant attacking display.

Adding in his efforts from that game he’s picked up 2 tries and 6 assists (along with 3 Man of the Match awards). Only the Warriors’ scrum halves can top those try involvements this year (Ali Price 10, George Horne 9). In fact Glasgow’s 9s and 10s combined have been directly involved in 27 of the 48 tries scored so far during 2018/19. There’s no question Adam’s performance will have a big influence on what will be just the third Champions Cup match of his career.

Glasgow’s Track Record…

…against French sides in the pool stages of the European Cup:

• • 11 wins (8 at home, 3 away)
  • 2 draws (1 at home, 1 away)
  • 25 losses (10 at home, 15 away)

After only managing one win on French soil in their first 17 years of Heineken Cup action, Glasgow have won recently against Montpellier (2014/15) and Racing 92 (2016/17). Of course that solitary earlier triumph was a fairly memorable one. No excuse needed to revisit these highlights – even if the picture quality is a bit rough…

Most recent meeting in Europe:

This will be the first ever encounter between the clubs with Lyon playing just the third Heineken Cup match in their history. The French side will be the 30th different opponent for Glasgow in this tournament since they debuted against Ulster at Ravenhill more than 21 years ago.

Officials:

Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)
AR1: Greg Macdonald (Eng)
AR2: Wayne Falla (Eng)
TMO: Geoff Warren (Eng)

Mr. Carley takes charge of a Warriors’ fixture for the second time, following last season’s Round 3 match-up in the Champions Cup. On that occasion Montpellier visited Scotstoun and Glasgow rather shot themselves in the foot with 2 yellow cards and 14 penalties (plus a seriously misfiring lineout) conspiring to hand the Top 14 side a win after the Warriors had looked to be taking charge early on.

The English official has even more recent experience of Glasgow having been Assistant Referee for the club’s last European outing – against Cardiff Blues. The Warriors kept their noses clean that day (8 pens, no cards) so hopefully Mr. Carley starts this game with a positive outlook on Glasgow’s tendencies.

---

Bonus obscure stat:

Alex Allan’s suspension brings to an end a run of 15 consecutive appearances in the number 17 shirt for Glasgow’s European games. Not since Jerry Yanuyanutawa nearly 3 years ago against Racing 92 has another loosehead prop inhabited that jersey for the Warriors in the Champions Cup.

Overall Alex had the longest active streak of Heineken Cup matches for the club having featured in 19 in a row. His absence means that Ali Price takes up the mantle with Saturday’s game against Lyon being the 5’3″ scrum half’s 19th on the spin in European competition for the Warriors (15 starts, 4 subs).