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

KO 6.00 BST (7.00 local time) at Loftus Versfeld
Friday 29th April 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1

• The Bulls will be the 58th different side that Glasgow have played against in the professional era.
• This is the most experienced starting lineup named by the Warriors for a game this season with 1,167 previous appearances for the club and 901 games played in the URC.
• There is a four year difference in the average age of the forwards in the Glasgow 23 (ave. 29.2) and the backs (ave. 25.1).
• The home side’s starting 10-12-13 axis has an average age of 35.0 years.
• When the Bulls’ stand off, Morne Steyn, played his first Super Rugby match, the Bulls’ full back, Canan Moodie, was two years old.
• 10 of the Warriors’ starting lineup came through the Academy system – the most for any fixture during 2021/22.
• The man they call Meatball – Duncan Weir – is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

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

Glasgow Greetings:

This will be the first time that George Turner has started a URC match since 8th January.

Matchday Milestones:

Tom Gordon will make his 50th appearance for the club having debuted back in January 2019 against the Ospreys (in one of the worst games ever played at Scotstoun – although that wasn’t Tom’s fault!)

Since the end of his first season for Glasgow, Sam Johnson has only made three appearances off the bench. It’s been more than three years since he last came on as a substitute, a period that covers 70 games played by the centre for the Warriors and Scotland.

Warrior to Watch:

For Glasgow fans of a certain vintage it feels like about five minutes since Duncan Weir made his debut for the club. In fact it’s already more than a dozen years since he was sprung from the bench as a fresh faced 18 year old to replace Dan Parks against Leinster at Firhill.

Now with more than 230 top level games under his belt and closing in on 1,500 career points for his clubs, Weir is the experienced head who the Warriors will look to guide the team to play in the right places at a tough away venue.

That’s particularly important against a Bulls’ side that has a reputation for physical play up front but who are just as happy to shred opponents with pace out wide. Duncy is keeping up a 92% tackle completion rate in the league this year and he – and his team mates – will need to be at their best defensively at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Glasgow away to South African sides in the PRO14/URC:

• 2 wins
• 3 losses
• 3 try BPs
• 11 points out of a possible 25 (44%)

Officials:

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU, 3rd league game)
AR1: AJ Jacobs (SARU)
AR2: Griffin Colby (SARU)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)

Mr Amashukeli’s record for 2021/22:

Matches – 6
Average penalty count – 23.2 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 51.1%
Average card count – 1.2 per game
Penalties per card – 19.9

This will not only be the first time that Mr Amashukeli has taken charge of a Warriors’ fixture it will be the first time in their history (650 games) that Glasgow have ever been refereed by a Georgian official.

Last week Mr Amashukeli dished out 28 penalties and three yellow cards in the match between the Sharks and Leinster. The same weekend the Warriors coughed up 15 pens against the Stormers. There needs to be a real improvement this time round.

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Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=19