KO 5.30
The RDS
Sunday 28th February 2021
Live on Premier Sports 1
- These two sides last met at the RDS exactly one year ago to the day. Just 17 of the 46 players involved in that game on 28 February 2020 return this time round.
- Tom Gordon (at 7) and Huw Jones (starting at 13 for Glasgow for the first time in 12 months) are the only Warriors’ players in the same jersey from that that last match.
- Snake-hipped stand off Adam Hastings is the Warrior to Watch.
Teams
15 Jimmy O’Brien
14 Cian Kelleher
13 Rory O’Loughlin
12 Ciaran Frawley
11 Dave Kearney
10 Harry Byrne
9 Luke McGrath (c)
15 Ollie Smith
14 Rufus McLean
13 Huw Jones
12 Sam Johnson
11 Cole Forbes
10 Adam Hastings
9 Jamie Dobie
1 Peter Dooley
2 Sean Cronin
3 Michael Bent
4 Devin Toner
5 Scott Fardy
6 Josh Murphy
7 Josh van der Flier
8 Scott Penny
1 Oli Kebble
2 Grant Stewart
3 Enrique Pieretto
4 Richie Gray
5 Leone Nakarawa
6 Robert Harley
7 Tom Gordon
8 Ryan Wilson (c)
16 Dan Sheehan
17 Greg McGrath
18 Thomas Clarkson
19 Jack Dunne
20 Alex Soroka
21 Rowan Osborne
22 David Hawkshaw
23 Jamie Osborne
16 Johnny Matthews
17 Aki Seiuli
18 D’arcy Rae
19 Gregor Brown
20 TJ Ioane
21 Sean Kennedy
22 Ross Thompson
23 Robbie Fergusson
Head to Head:
Back 3 – ADV Leinster
Centres – ADV Glasgow
Half Backs – EVEN
Front Row – ADV Glasgow
Second Row – EVEN
Back Row – ADV Leinster
Subs – EVEN
Glasgow Greetings:
New boy Cole Forbes will be the 10th Warriors’ debutant of the season. He’ll be joined in a spectacularly young back 3 (average age of just a shade over 21 years) by Ollie Smith who will be making his first start for the club. On the bench, 19 year old Gregor Brown is in line for his debut. If he makes it on he will be the 6th Stage 3 Academy player to make their first appearance for either Glasgow or Edinburgh during the current season.
Warrior to Watch:
Adam Hastings’ outings for Glasgow have been limited by international duty and injury (incurred on international duty…) and this will be just the 6th time in the Warriors’ last 18 games that the first choice 10 starts for the club. Unfortunately his departure for Gloucester at the end of the season means that there won’t be too many more appearances in a Glasgow shirt for Adam.
Best to enjoy what the snake-hipped stand off has to offer while he’s still here then. Chief among that is a preternatural ability to beat defenders. Despite playing in amongst the heavy traffic and not exactly boasting a physique that allows him to run through tackles, Adam’s tally of 43 defenders beaten was comfortably the highest for any Glasgow player last season. That ability to get his side on the front foot will be essential if the Warriors are to get their attack firing against a brutal Leinster defence.
Glasgow away to Leinster in the PRO12/14 era:
- 2 wins
- 1 draw
- 5 losses
- 2 try BPs
- 4 losing BPs
- 16 points out of a possible 40 (40%)
Previous match-up at the RDS:
Officials:
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 41st competition game)
AR1: Chris Busby (IRFU)
AR2: Robert O’Sullivan (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
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 – 45% (all refs – 52%)
Average card count – 1.3 per game (all refs – 1.3)
Penalties per card – 15 (all refs – 15)
If you’re looking for positives then this will be the 3rd time Mr Murphy has refereed Glasgow this season with the previous fixtures accounting for 2 of the Warriors’ 3 wins in the PRO14 during this campaign. It might take a bit more than that lucky omens to come away with a win against a side who have dominated the league across the last 4 seasons though!
On Top Of The Moon 