Need to Know: Scarlets v Glasgow Warriors, United Rugby Championship match preview 2021/22

KO 5.15 at Parc y Scarlets
Saturday 5th March 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1

• Due to the vagaries of the conference system, as well as one thing and another, in the last 5½ years Glasgow have only played a single game at Parc y Scarlets.
• That last trip to Llanelli was in April 2018 when the Warriors lost 26-8. Of the 46 players involved in that encounter just 10 return this time around – 6 for Scarlets and 4 for Glasgow.
• The Warriors have won 3 and lost 6 in their last 9 visits to Parc y Scarlets.
• Rob Harley returns to the lineup having missed 6 games in a row. Since September 2010, Glasgow have only had one longer run of matches without an appearance by the Ginger Ninja (7 in early 2015 when Rob was on Scotland duty in the Six Nations).
• Talismanic skipper Ryan Wilson is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Glasgow Greetings:

On the bench, both Ewan McQuillin and Jordan Lenac are in line for their first appearances of the season. Lenac’s most recent game for the Warriors was 27 March 2021 against Benetton. McQuillin has been waiting for some competitive action since Glasgow’s last pre-pandemic fixture versus Leinster at the end of February 2020.

Matchday Milestones:

Ryan Wilson will become just the second man to play in 150 URC/PRO14 etc. matches for Glasgow – following in the footsteps of Rob Harley (who will be playing his 201st fixture in the league when he runs out against the Scarlets).

Once A Warrior:

He never played for the first team in a competitive game – so no Warrior number – but Scotland international Javan Sebastian was part of the Glasgow squad (on a Partnership Contract with Ayr) during the 2015/16 season.

Warrior to Watch:

Ryan Wilson has epitomised the Warrior spirit throughout his time in Glasgow. His leadership and sheer force of will has really been to the fore of late, helping hold things together as the club has come through Covid and transitional periods for both the playing and coaching staff.

On Saturday, Ryan will captain the Warriors for the 68th time – only Al Kellock (162) has skippered the club in more matches. He has been a remarkably consistent presence in the matchday squad, playing in 51 of Glasgow’s last 55 games.

The work rate remains high – even as a 32 year old veteran! Ryan ranks 21st in the URC for carries with 75. He also loves an offload, making the top 10 in the league for that stat (must be all the time spent in Niko Matawalu’s company…)

There’s also the small matter of being (in OTOTM’s opinion anyway) the best lineout jumping back row in Glasgow’s history. He will certainly have a sizeable contribution to make against the Scarlets.

Glasgow away to Scarlets in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:

• 2 wins
• 5 losses
• 1 try BP
• 9 points out of a possible 35 (26%)
• This is by far the Warriors lowest points return from their last 7 away league trips against any of the Welsh regions:
  • Dragons – 16 pts
  • Ospreys – 16 pts
  • Cardiff – 27 pts
• In fact over the same 7 game span Glasgow have picked up more points away to Leinster (11) than they have against Scarlets.

Previous match-up at Parc y Scarlets:

Officials:

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 17th league game)
AR1: Elgan Williams (WRU)
AR2: Steffan Edwards (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

Mr Busby’s record for 2021/22:

Matches – 8
Average penalty count – 23.8 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 45.8%
Average card count – 1.4 per game
Penalties per card – 17.2

Mr Busby is becoming a familiar face for Glasgow fans as Irish refereeing moves on from the likes of George Clancy. This will be the fourth Warriors’ game that the whistler has taken charge of in the space of 16 months – a couple against the Dragons last season and the Ospreys at Scotstoun less than two months ago.

While the Warriors have come out of those previous encounters pretty well on the crime count they need to be wary in particular of the Irish official’s high average for penalties and the proportion that go against away teams.

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Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=3