Need to Know: Cardiff Blues v Glasgow Warriors, PRO14 match preview 2020/21

KO 7.35
Rodney Parade
Sunday 29th November 2020
Live on Premier Sports 2

• Glasgow have won 7 of their last 8 league matches away to Cardiff Blues.
• This match will take place at Rodney Parade though. The Warriors have managed victory in 50% of their games at the home of the Dragons over the same period.
• Just 4 Glasgow players remain in the starting lineup from the last time these sides clashed in Wales – Nick Grigg, Peter Horne, Rob Harley and Tom Gordon. 9 of the home side’s XV also started that match in February 2019.
• Low to the ground but high on attacking potential, Nick Grigg is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Glasgow Greetings:

A big, big welcome back to Lee Jones. At the start of the 2018/19 season, Lee was well on his way to becoming a Warrior Centurion, having clocked up 80 matches since moving along the M8 from Edinburgh. Injuries have put a hard stop on his Glasgow career in recent times and the winger has made just 2 appearances for the club (totalling 84 minutes of game time) in a little over 2 years. Here’s hoping for a flying re-start for the former Scotland 7s star!

Matchday Milestones:

Both Peter Horne and Ryan Wilson will play their 177th games for the Warriors, putting them 3rd equal all-time alongside Graeme Morrison. With a couple of forwards in first and second (Rob Harley makes his 238th appearance on Sunday night; Chris Fusaro – 183 matches) that means Pete is now equal top as the record holder for games played by a Glasgow back.

Warrior to Watch:

His return to action last week may have been brief but there’s plenty of reasons to expect a big impact from the shortest player in the Glasgow line-up, Nick Grigg. Since breaking through in 2016-17, Squiggsy has been one of the most consistent performers in the Warriors’ backline. He’s a player who uses his strength and low centre of gravity to break a remarkable amount of tackles and get the team on the front foot.

On the defensive side he leads the linespeed with low chop tackles. He’s pretty handy over the ball too, which can be a real benefit at rucks in the wide areas that the back row might not make it to. It’s going forward that is his real strength though and If the Warriors’ attack is to spark at Rodney Parade then Nick will need to be one of the primary contributors.

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

• 7 wins
• 1 loss
• 2 try bonus points
• 1 losing bonus point
• 31 points out of a possible 40 (78%)

Previous match-up away to Cardiff Blues:

Officials:

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 39th competition game)
AR1: Ian Davies (WRU)
AR2: Mike English (WRU)
TMO: Rhys Thomas (WRU)

Mr Murphy’s regular season record for 2019/20 in the PRO14:

Matches – 10 (all refs – 101)
Average penalty count – 18.9 per game (all refs – 19.1)
Home penalty percentage – 55% (all refs – 48%)
Average card count – 1.3 per game (all refs – 1.3)
Penalties per card – 15 (all refs – 15)

Nobody took charge of more PRO14 fixtures last season than Mr Murphy. The former scrum half (now there’s a position that was born to referee!) has become a regular as the league looks to develop a younger cadre of refs to take over from some of the more experienced officials. This will be the second time this season that the Irish whistler has been the man in the middle for a Glasgow game having also filled the role for the club’s only win of the campaign so far – versus Scarlets at Scotstoun.