Need to Know: Exeter v Glasgow Warriors, Champions Cup match preview 2021/22

KO 5.30 at Sandy Park
Saturday 15th December 2022
Live on BT Sport 2

• The Warriors have won 3 and lost 22 of their Champions Cup matches away to English opposition.
• The victories came against Exeter (15-10 in 2013/14); Leicester (43-0 in 2016/17); and Sale (45-7 in 2019/20).
• The absence means of Rob Harley means that Ian Whitten and Ben Moon will be the only players to have featured in all 9 matches played between these two sides.
• Sam Simmonds has scored a try in each of these sides’ last three meetings at Sandy Park.
• This is the youngest starting XV named by Glasgow this season, with an average age under 26 years old.
• Powerful prop, Jamie Bhatti, is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Changes to Starting XVs from Round 2:

Exeter (In –> Out)

• 1. Ben Moon –> Alec Hepburn
• 3. Josh Iosefa-Scott –> Sam Nixon
• 4/7. Jannes Kirsten –> Jonny Gray (with Sam Skinner moving from 7 to 4)
• 5. Sean Lonsdale –> Jonny Hill

Glasgow (In –> Out)

• 5. Kiran McDonald –> Richie Gray

Glasgow Greetings:

Club co-captains, Fraser Brown and Ryan Wilson, are both in line to make their first appearances in this season’s Champions Cup. In fact, it has been more than two years since Fraser last featured in this tournament (on the evening the Warriors thrashed Sale 45-7 on their own turf).

Sebastian Cancelliere could make his Champions Cup debut from the bench. It has been more than a decade since an Argentinian last bagged a try for Glasgow in the Champions Cup (Federico Aramburu against Montpellier on 11/12/11). Could the Warriors’ new Pumas’ winger break that scoreless streak?

Once A Warrior:

Stuart Hogg (Warrior number 191) has recently confirmed that his contract will keep him at Exeter for an extended period. Will the full back ever be seen again in Glasgow colours?

Matchday Milestones:

A huge moment for Ryan Wilson as he will play his 200th game for Glasgow.

• 340 players have played for the Warriors.
• 49 have managed at least 100 games for the club.
• Just 2 have featured in 200 matches – Ryan joins Rob Harley in bringing up this landmark.

Among the current squad, nobody else has made more than 116 appearances so it will be a while before anyone joins the veteran duo in the double century club!

This is the first starting XV in Glasgow’s history entirely made up of players born in the 1990s and 2000s. George Turner (DOB 8/10/92) is the oldest player in the starting lineup.

Warrior to Watch:

Jamie Bhatti will make his 8th career start in the Champions Cup – four of which have come against Exeter! In his second spell with Glasgow, the big man seems to be maturing nicely as he approaches what should be the peak years for a prop.

He certainly returned to the club with a bang at the start of the 2021/22 campaign. Having never troubled the try line during the 47 matches he played for the Warriors first time around (or for that matter in 26 appearances for Edinburgh and Bath) it took him just 37 minutes to bag his first score this season – versus the Sharks at Scotstoun. Following it up with another 3 minutes into the very next game against the Lions just seemed greedy!

The bread and butter for Bhatti is at scrum time though and Glasgow seem to be steadily improving in this area. They currently rank third in the URC for both percentage success rate on their own ball (94%) and scrum penalties won (10). Exeter pride themselves on their setpiece work so if Bhatti and the Warriors can impose themselves in this area it will definitely be a big boost as they look for a first win at Sandy Park since 2014.

Glasgow away to Exeter in the Champions Cup:

13/12/21 at Sandy Park – report

Exeter 42
T: Sam Simmonds, Jonny Gray, Stuart Hogg, Jack Yeandle, Olly Woodburn, Jonny Hill
C: Joe Simmonds (6)
P: none
Glasgow Warriors 0
T: none
C: none
P: none

23/11/19 at Sandy Park – report

Exeter 34
T: Jonny Hill, Henry Slade, Sam Simmonds, Tom O’Flaherty
C: Joe Simmonds (4)
P: Joe Simmonds (2)
Glasgow Warriors 18
T: Nick Grigg, George Turner
C: Adam Hastings
P: Adam Hastings (2)

14/10/17 at Sandy Park – report

Exeter 24
T: Harry Williams, Jonny Hill, Sam Simmods
C: Gareth Steenson (3)
P: Gareth Steenson
Glasgow Warriors 15
T: Tommy Seymour, Lee Jones
C: Finn Russell
P: Finn Russell

11/01/14 at Sandy Park – report

Exeter 10
T: Fetu Vainikolo
C: Henry Slade
P: Henry Slade
Glasgow Warriors 15
T: Sean Maitland, Sean Lamont
C: Stuart Hogg
P: Stuart Hogg

Previous match-up away to Exeter in the Champions Cup:

Nope couldn’t find any ‘highlights’ for this one. Maybe if we never watch the footage then it never really happened…

Officials:

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
AR1: Vincent Blasco Baque (France)
AR2: Stephane Boyer (France)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (France)

M. Poite’s record for 2020/21:

Matches – 9
Average penalty count – 24.4 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 48.1%
Average card count – 2.4 per game
Penalties per card – 10.0

Whatever algorithm EPCR use to allocate officials seems to have become rather stuck when it comes to these fixtures. This will be the ninth time Exeter and Glasgow have met in a competitive match and it will be the fourth occasion that M. Poite has been the man in the middle.

For an experienced ref, M. Poite has a surprisingly high penalty count and a remarkably high card count. In fact, he has issued at least one card in 17 out of his last 20 European fixtures.

The Warriors were a bit Jekyll and Hyde last time out against the Ospreys, with an ill-disciplined first half and a controlled second. The latter type of performance will be required to keep Exeter’s red zone efficiency at bay and outside the 22.

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Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=5