Need to Know: Cardiff Blues v Glasgow Warriors, PRO14 match preview 2018/19

KO 7.35 at Cardiff Arms Park
Saturday 16th February 2019
Live on Premier Sports 1 *

• With 18 players missing for Glasgow the advantage in the head to heads lies with the hosts.
• There’s a debut for Kyle Steyn while Scott Cummings makes his 50th appearance for the club.
• Hard-grafting second row Tim Swinson is one of Glasgow’s most consistent performers and he is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Cardiff Blues
Centres – EVEN
Half Backs – ADV Glasgow
Front Row – EVEN
Second Row – EVEN
Back Row – ADV Cardiff Blues
Subs – ADV Glasgow

Glasgow Greetings:

It’s debut time for new signing Kyle Steyn. The former Griquas player won’t join the club full-time until next season but he’s getting his first start in early while on secondment from Scotland 7s. As one of three 100kg+ players in the Warriors’ backline (the others being Rory Hughes and Stafford McDowall) he should provide a physical presence. If his pace is as advertised as well then he could really make an impact.

Kyle will be Warrior number 304. He will also be the 9th debutant and the 51st player used overall in the current campaign by Glasgow.

Matchday Milestones:

Scott Cummings will make his 50th appearance for the Warriors, seemingly still just as fresh-faced as the youthful academy prospect who pitched up for his debut 3½ years ago while the 2015 World Cup was on!

Warrior to Watch:

Having picked up an injury early on in Scotland’s game against Argentina, Tim Swinson missed nearly 3 months at the start of this season for Glasgow. Since returning to the fray Swinno has been ever present and he’ll be making his 11th consecutive appearance – the longest current streak in the squad.

Tim’s a grafter as he proved once again with 17 carries and 7 tackles in atrocious conditions last time out against Ospreys at Scotstoun. More hard work (in hopefully better weather!) will be required to subdue a lively Cardiff Blues pack that will see the contact area as their route to controlling the game.

Glasgow away to Cardiff Blues in the PRO12/14 era:

• 6 wins
• 1 loss
• 2 try BPs
• 26 points out of a possible 35 (74%)

Previous match-up:

Officials:

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 110th Championship game)
AR1: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
AR2: Johnny Erskine (IRFU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)

Mr. Clancy’s record last season in the PRO14:

Matches – 12 (all refs – 147)
Average penalty count – 17.1 per game (all refs – 19.0)
Home penalty percentage – 59% (all refs – 53%)
Average card count – 0.4 per game (all refs – 0.9)
Penalties per card – 41.0 (all refs – 22)

Here’s a matchday milestone for Warriors’ fans to conjure with. This will be the 40th Glasgow game to be refereed by Mr. Clancy. That’s the most for any official in the club’s 20+ years as a professional entity.

The Irish whistler is such a regular in fact that everyone – coaches, players and supporters alike – must be well aware of the drill by now on his tendencies. Low penalty count; cards a rarity; avoids using the TMO; and loves the odd free kick for techinical offences to liven things up.

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* Other coverage:
Match re-runs on FreeSports:

• Friday 22nd February at 12.00pm

Highlights of all matches in Round 13:

• Premier Sports 1 – Monday 18th February at 9.30pm
• FreeSports – Monday 18th February at 8.30pm