Need to Know: Glasgow Warriors v Leinster, PRO14 match preview 2019/20

KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Saturday 30th November 2019
Live on Premier Sports 2

• With Leinster fielding an entirely different XV to the one that defeated Lyon away last week the head to heads favour a Warriors’ side that is closer to full strength. This youthful Leinster team has been flying in the league though – Glasgow have to be wary.
• Returning to number 8, captain Ryan Wilson is the Warrior to Watch.
• It’s been more than 2 years since Leinster last played at Scotstoun.
• This rematch of the PRO14 championship game 6 months ago features 5 of the Glasgow starters from that fixture and…err…not a single one of the Leinster side that kicked off the final.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Glasgow Greetings:

Welcome aboard to Aki Seiuli who will become Warrior number 308 when he joins the game from the bench. The big loosehead should provide some good impact with his ball-carrying late on.

Nearly 7 months have passed since Adam Ashe’s last appearance at Scotstoun in a competitive match. He’ll be another physical presence among the substitutes – which may prove crucial if this is as tight as many Glasgow and Leinster games have been in the past.

Matchday Milestones:

Tim Swinson will make his 100th appearance in the PRO14 having played his first game in the competition back in September 2012 against Connacht.

Warrior to Watch:

Captain Ryan Wilson will be in Glasgow’s number 8 shirt for just the second time in the last 12 months. The emergence of Matt Fagerson, in particular, has seen Ryan specialise almost exclusively at blindside flanker. Saturday’s game, and that role at the back of the scrum, will provide an opportunity to get the ball in his hands a bit more frequently.

It’s not an area he’s struggled with in the early part of the season it has to be said and he’s averaged over 10 carries per 80 minutes since returning from RWC action. There have also been some crucial contributions at the lineout where he’s an excellent option – only Kiran McDonald averages more takes per game for the Warriors’ in the early part of the 2019/20 campaign.

Glasgow at home to Leinster in the PRO14 era:

• 5 wins
• 1 draw
• 1 loss
• 2 try BPs
• 1 losing BP
• 25 points out of a possible 35 (71%)

Previous match-up:

Yes you are allowed to spend 10 minutes rewatching Niko’s try*

Officials:

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
AR1: Mike Adamson (SRU)
AR1: Adam Jones (WRU)
TMO: John Mason (WRU)

Mr Evans’ regular season record for 2018/19 in the PRO14:

Matches – 3 (all refs – 147)
Average penalty count – 23.0 per game (all refs – 18.4)
Home penalty percentage – 64% (all refs – 52%)
Average card count – 1.0 per game (all refs – 0.9)
Penalties per card – 17.3 (all refs – 19)

Younger than most of the Glasgow backline, Mr Evans is one of the league’s up-and-coming officials. This is his first season on the PRO14’s Elite Referee Squad and this may well be the biggest game of his career so far with the top two teams from the last couple of years going head to head.

In common with most young officials he’s quick on the whistle, averaging more penalties than any of the PRO14’s other regular refs last season and tending to favour the home teams pretty strongly. The Welsh whistler has been to Scotstoun once before for 2017/18’s clash with Zebre. This will be a much more challenging fixture to take charge of…

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* To me, it’s still his try even if it was actually scored by Nick Grigg!