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

KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Friday 28th October 2022
Live on Premier Sports 1

• There may be just 6 weeks separating this fixture and these sides’ season opening clashing in Treviso but the starting XVs are barely recongisable from early September. There are just 6 returning starters for Benetton and 5 for Glasgow – Sebastian Cancelliere, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn, Fraser Brown and Sintu Manjezi.
• There are 39 players unavailable to play in this fixture across the two sides – 25 are away with their national teams (11 for Glasgow and 14 for Benetton) and 14 are injured (9 for Glasgow and 5 for Benetton).
• Fraser Brown and Ryan Wilson have more previous appearances for the Warriors (343) than the rest of the starting XV combined (291).
• Weegentinian winger Sebastian Cancelliere is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

(players in CAPITALS are full internationals; figures in brackets are previous appearances for Glasgow Warriors or Benetton)

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Glasgow

Centres – EVEN

Half Backs – EVEN

Front Row – EVEN

Second Row – ADV Benetton

Back Row – ADV Benetton

Subs – ADV Benetton

Glasgow Greetings:

Giant lock, Alex Samuel, will make his debut while Euan Ferrie could also make his bow from the bench and there is a first home appearance for Sione Vailanu. Alex will be the 5th teenager (19 years and 305 days) to play in the second row for the Warriors and he joins some pretty esteemed company:

• Scott Cummings – 18 years 277 days
• Jonny Gray – 18 years 283 days
• Richie Gray – 19 years 196 days
• Callum Hunter-Hill – 19 years 225 days

Matchday Milestones

Sintu Manjezi and (if he comes off the bench) Tom Jordan, will be the only Glasgow players to have featured in all six of the club’s fixtures so far this season.

Warrior to Watch:

Sebastian Cancelliere’s scintillating form has made him impossible to ignore when it comes to back 3 selection and he must be one of the first names on the teamsheet as things stand. His all action style – never stinting on effort and hard work in both attack and defence – has made him a fan favourite.

While his contributions to a couple of Glasgow’s best tries so far this season (putting in Cole Forbes against Cardiff and Josh McKay versus the Bulls) were definite highlights, his work tracking back to make a textbook cover tackle against the South African province in front of the Main Stand really illustrated his commitment to the cause.

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

• 8 wins
• 1 loss
• 5 try BPs
• 1 losing BP
• 38 points out of a possible 45 (84%)

Previous match-up v Benetton at Scotstoun:

Officials:

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU, 38th league game)
AR1: Finlay Brown (SRU)
AR2: Michael Todd (SRU)
TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

Mr Evans’ regular season record for 2021/22:

Matches – 15
Average penalty count – 21.7 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 43.6%
Average card count – 1.3 per game
Penalties per card – 17.1

As one of the league’s more youthful officials (younger than Simon Berghan, Fraser Brown, Sean Kennedy and Ryan Wilson in fact!) Mr Evans still fits the profile for a tendency towards slightly higher penalty and card counts. This will be his 5th time refereeing Glasgow and his 4th game at Scotstoun. Hopefully that low percentage of pens against home sides continues on Friday night…

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