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

KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Friday 23rd September 2022
Live on Premier Sports 2

• Glasgow finally get to run out for a home fixture for the first time in 176 days.
• Even the Covid interruption was just 7 days longer between home games (although admittedly the return to action was a ‘home’ match at Murrayfield!)
• It has been nearly three years since Cardiff last visited Scotstoun – on 12th October 2019.
• There are just 6 of the Warriors’ 23 from that game who are still with the club and only 4 (Matt Fagerson, Stafford McDowall, Johnny Matthews and Kyle Steyn) who will play again on Friday night.
• By contrast no less than 10 of the visitors’ squad also played in 2019 and 16 of their matchday squad from that game three years ago are still with Cardiff.
• Warriors’ fans might have hoped to catch a glimpse of one of the modern greats of back row play among the opposition but Taulupe Faleatau is rested after starring last week against Munster. The Welsh talisman has never played a game at Scotstoun and his last (and in fact only) appearance in Glasgow came back in April 2010.
• The mighty, mighty Zander Fagerson is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Cardiff

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – EVEN

Front Row – ADV Glasgow

Second Row – ADV Cardiff

Back Row – ADV Glasgow

Subs – EVEN

Glasgow Greetings:

Giant-sized lock, JP du Preez, should become Warrior number 344. It’s not been officially confirmed yet but based on his stats from his previous clubs, JP will overtake Richie Gray to become the tallest player ever to feature for Glasgow.

After their first matches for the club last week there will be home debuts for Tom Jordan, Lucio Sordon, and Sintu Manjezi.

There should be a big welcome back for some key men who haven’t played at Scotstoun since the game against La Rochelle, more than 8 months ago on 22nd January – Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Ali Price and George Turner.

Matchday Milestones:

This game will be George Horne’s 82nd for the Warriors. Combined with brother Peter’s 182, that means that the Hornes will tie the Bullochs as the siblings with the most appearances for Glasgow on 264. As they are already the top try scorers (60 combined versus 51 from the Lamonts as the next highest) Pete and George can lay serious claim to being the ultimate fraternal pairing in the club’s history!

Once A Warrior:

Brad Thyer played the first 4 games of last season for Glasgow on a loan deal. The experienced loosehead prop is closing in on a century of appearances for Cardiff.

Warrior to Watch:

After the rare experience of being a sub last week, Zander Fagerson returns to the number 3 shirt that he has occupied 82 times before for Glasgow. The British & Irish Lion will be the cornerstone of an all international pack as the Warriors look to win the battle upfront in the setpiece and around the breakdown.

Voluminous tackle and carry workrates are key to Zander’s impact for Glasgow – and he can also be a significant turnover threat at rucks. After a shaky start for the setpiece in round 1 though, one of the primary aims of the elder Fagerson’s promotion to the starting lineup will be to bring some much needed stability to the scrum.

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

• 9 wins
• 6 try BPs
• 42 points out of a possible 45 (93%)

Previous match-up at Scotstoun:

Officials:

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 23rd league game)
AR1: Finlay Brown (SRU)
AR2: Ru Campbell (SRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (SRU)

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

Matches – 14
Average penalty count – 21.9 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 47.2%
Average card count – 0.9 per game
Penalties per card – 23.6

This will be Mr Busby’s fifth time as the man in the middle for a Warriors’ game and his third at Scotstoun so he should know what to expect by now! As is normally the case for younger refs, his penalty counts are quite high. His card numbers suggest he may tolerate a bit more than many refs before reaching for his pocket though.

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