Need to Know: Benetton v Glasgow Warriors, United Rugby Championship match preview 2022/23

KO 5.30 (6.30 local time) at Stadio di Monigo
Friday 16th September 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1

• These sides have met on 20 previous occasions in the league. Glasgow have won 16 and Benetton 4.
• Across the two teams there will be 36 full capped internationals on show.
• Not since 1st November 2019 has Ryan Wilson been omitted from a Warriors’ 23 while fit and available – a span of 64 matches*.
• Kyle Steyn is the first player to captain Glasgow while wearing the number 11 shirt since Kenny Logan in 2004.
• It’s been 7 years since the last time a forward scored the first try of the season for Glasgow. Can any of the Warriors’ giant-sized pack (946kg total weight) end that streak?
• First try scorer for each of the last 10 seasons:
  • 2012/13 – Tommy Seymour
  • 2013/14 – Tommy Seymour
  • 2014/15 – Peter Horne
  • 2015/16 – Mike Cusack
  • 2016/17 – Tommy Seymour
  • 2017/18 – Ali Price
  • 2018/19 – Tommy Seymour
  • 2019/20 – Nick Frisby
  • 2020/21 – Nick Grigg
  • 2021/22 – George Horne
• Jack Dempsey will be in the thick of the action and is this week’s Warrior to Watch.

Teams

(players in CAPITALS are full internationals)

Head to Head:

Back 3 –EVEN

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – EVEN

Front Row – ADV Benetton

Second Row – ADV Benetton

Back Row – EVEN

Subs – ADV Glasgow

Glasgow Greetings:

Three debutants to kick off the season for Glasgow:

Warrior number 341, Lucio Sordoni, will be the 10th Weegentinian, a contingent of South Americans who have played more than 200 games for the club.

Warrior number 342, Sintu Manjezi, will provide a heavyweight presence at blindside flanker, although this will be his first start in the back row since he turned out there for Eastern Province in their 2015/16 Provincial Cup campaign.

Warrior number 343, Tom Jordan, will be the 7th different player to start in the number 10 shirt for Glasgow since Finn Russell left at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Matchday Milestones:

Skipper, Kyle Steyn, brings up his half-century of appearances for the Warriors.

There is a highly unusual look to the Glasgow bench.

• Ali Price is a Warriors’ sub for the first time in a URC match since 28/8/20.
• Rory Darge’s only other appearance from the bench for the club was his debut (also against Benetton – in the Rainbow Cup, 24/4/21).
• Zander Fagerson has only been a replacement on one other occasion in his last 48 games for Glasgow.
• Scott Cummings hasn’t been a substitute for the Warriors since their match on 5/4/19 versus Ulster.

Warrior to Watch:

Jack Dempsey made an instant impact during his debut season. The Wallabies international played more games than anyone else at the club – 22 – starting at number 8 in all of them. The only times he wasn’t selected were 3 matches when he was unavailable through injury.

Demmo made the top 5 in the league for carries, metres made and offloads. His workrate and ability to get the side on the front foot, even in the least promising of positions, were vital additions to the back row blend. A fairly spiky, competitive attitude also helped endear him to the Scotstoun faithful.

Second seasons can be tough and Jack is also has a big decision about his potential future in international rugby hanging over him. No matter what his call on this, he will remain a vital part of the Warriors’ side and given his approach to life and the game it would be no surprise to see him step things up even further for Glasgow in 2022/23.

Glasgow away to Benetton in the URC/PRO14/12:

• 7 wins
• 2 losses
• 5 try BPs
• 2 losing BPs
• 35 points out of a possible 45 (78%)

Officials:

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 64th league game)
AR1: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
AR2: Manuel Bottino (FIR)
TMO: Brian McNeice (IRFU)

Mr Murphy’s record for 2021/22:

Matches – 21
Average penalty count – 18.0 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 48.9%
Average card count – 0.9 per game
Penalties per card – 18.9

Mr Murphy seems to have replaced George Clancy as the go to option for refereeing Warriors’ games. This will be the 8th time the former Connacht player has taken charge of a Glasgow fixture since the start of the 2020/21 season – more than any other official.

The Warriors’ record with Mr Murphy as the man in the middle is pretty decent – 10 wins and just 3 losses. They will be hoping the ref can be a lucky charm once again as they look to get the season (and the Franco Smith era) off to a flying start.

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

* Ryan played in 59 of those fixtures; he was unavailable once on Scotland duty; once due to being away with the Barbarians; and was injured for 3 games.