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

KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Saturday 1st April 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1

• It has been more than two years since Zebre last visited Scotstoun.
• 13 of the Warriors’ squad from that last encounter in Glasgow have moved on.
• At 876kgs this is the lightest pack named by Glasgow to start a match this season.
• The players in the home 23 have made 1,212 previous appearances for Glasgow while the visitors’ matchday squad have 774 matches for Zebre behind them.
• Titanic Glasgow all-time great Rob Harley is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Glasgow Greetings:

Sean Kennedy is in line for just his second appearance of the season and his first since the middle of October. That last game was, coincidentally, against Zebre – in fact 3 of Sean’s last 5 matches for the Warriors have come against the Italian side!

Matchday Milestones:

Kiran McDonald will play his 50th game for Glasgow, bringing up his half century just ahead of his move to Wasps at the end of the season.

Warrior to Watch:

On a night like this it could only be Rob Harley. The Ginger Ninja owns pretty much every appearance record going for the club after debuting back in September 2010 against Leinster at Firhill. When he runs out on Friday night it will be for his 99th competitive fixture played at Scotstoun. What odds on Glasgow getting a home quarter final and the big lock becoming the first person ever to make a century of appearances at the venue that has been the Warriors’ home since 2012?

20-year old Rob looked looked at home in a Glasgow shirt from the moment he stepped on the pitch to replace fellow debutant Ryan Wilson in the first game of the 2010/11 season. He spent much of that campaign in the number 6 shirt vacated by the departed Kelly Brown, a player with whom Rob shared the selfless quality of doing whatever is necessary for the team – the collective always came first.

For nearly a dozen years, Rob has been hard at it, hitting ruck after ruck; disrupting mauls; niggling opponents. Where there has been hard work or dirty work to be done, he’ll be at the very heart of it, enjoying every second of it. No doubt against Zebre he will be right in amongst it so take this chance to appreciate what he brings tothe team. It’s maybe not as beautiful as a clean break or a spectacular long pass but those moments couldn’t exist without his massive contributions.

Thank you Rob, for being part of the very foundations of our club for the last decade and a bit.

Glasgow at home to Zebre in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:

• 8 wins
• 7 try BPs
• 39 points out of a possible 40 (98%)

Previous match-up at Scotstoun:

Officials:

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 15th league game)
AR1: David Sutherland (SRU)
AR2: Graeme Ormistion (SRU)
TMO: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Mr Jones’s regular season record for 2021/22:

Matches – 9
Average penalty count – 20.3 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 45.6%
Average card count – 0.8 per game
Penalties per card – 27.6

Mr Jones was last in charge of a Glasgow game during the Rainbow Cup. The fixture against Edinburgh saw the Welsh whistler red card Oli Kebble and sin bin Rob Harley and Richie Gray (as well as sending off former Warrior, Mark Bennett, from the visitors’ side). The coaches will be hoping the ref is not required to be front and centre of the action this time round!

Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=1

Once A Warrior:

Tonight’s game will give the Warriors’ Faithful a chance to pay tribute to one of our own, Federico Martin Aramburu, who was tragically killed in Paris two weeks ago.

Fede made his debut in the same game as Rob Harley in 2010. They were just 2 of 7 debutants that evening as Tom Ryder, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos, Ryan Grant and Aly Muldowney all took their bows. That’s a group who went on to play nearly 900 games for Glasgow and who all made contributions to the growth of the club.

Fede was exactly the kind of player that the Warriors needed at that point as they rebuilt after losing a rake of experienced heads at the end of the previous season. The Pumas wing/centre set a fine example for, among others, Alex Dunbar, Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne and Peter Murchie who were all breaking through in the backs around this time.

The Warrior Nation have always loved skillful players, the guys who can make a little bit of magic happen. They also adore grafters who are willing to put everything on the line for the team. Fede was both of these things, combined in one package. Like so many of the Argentinians who have joined the club he was a perfect fit for the ‘Whatever it takes’ mantra.

He helped guide a very young and inexperienced squad through one of the club’s toughest seasons in 2010/11. That built the foundations for a return to the playoffs at the end of the 2011/12 campaign. Fede was at the heart of things in that first step up the mountain that would culminate in a championship win in 2015.

in his final appearance for the club at Firhill in 2012, Fede was captain, try scorer and Man of the Match. A fitting way to end his time in front of fans who appreciated everything he had brought to the jersey.

Gracias Fede. Descansa en paz.