Need to Know: Bath v Glasgow Warriors, Challenge Cup match preview 2022/23

KO 1.00 at The Rec
Saturday 10th December 2022
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

• The Warriors’ win over Newcastle in last season’s round of 16 is the only time the club have beaten an English side in the Challenge Cup.
• There are 21 full capped internationals in the starting lineups (11 for Bath and 10 for Glasgow).
• Simon Berghan and Cameron Neild have more Challenge Cup appearances between them (32) than the other 13 Warriors’ starters combined (23).
• The home side have made just 3 changes to their starting XV from their last Gallagher Premiership game against Harlequins.
• The visitors have made 11 changes to the lineup that tackled Zebre in the URC last weekend.
• Making his first start for Glasgow, JP du Preez, is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

(Players in BLOCK CAPITALS are full internationals)

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Glasgow

Centres – ADV Bath

Half Backs – ADV Bath

Front Row – ADV Glasgow

Second Row – ADV Bath

Back Row – ADV Bath

Subs – EVEN

Glasgow Greetings:

Club debuts – Cameron Neild, Jack Mann, Angus Fraser

First club start – JP du Preez

Club European debuts – the 3 debutants above plus JP du Preez, Lucio Sordoni, Euan Ferrie, Walter Fifita

First European starts – Jamie Dobie, Domingo Miotti

Once A Warrior:

Warrior number 241, D’arcy Rae, gets a chance to tackle his old mates. D’arcy famously took 74 games to bag his first ever try for Glasgow. The big man hasn’t become any more prolific since moving to Bath so he will be long odds to bag a meat pie. He won’t lack for motivation though to cross in this game of all games to break his duck for his new club!

Matchday Milestones:

Huw Jones will make his 50th appearance and Kyle Steyn his 50th start for the Warriors. More esoterically though, Richie Gray’s 90th game for Glasgow means that he has combined with little brother Jonny for 200 appearances for the club. The top 5 for fraternal Warriors’ caps are:

• 268 – Peter and George Horne
• 264 – Gordon and Alan Bulloch
• 204 – Zander and Matt Fagerson
• 200 – Jonny and Richie Gray
• 177 – Sean and Rory Lamont

Warrior to Watch:

Given his stature, it seems likely that JP du Preez was signed with one eye on beginning to replace Richie Gray, who turned 33 during the off season. The South African second row’s opportunities have been somewhat limited by the Grenaissance though, as the older of the Gray brothers has rolled back the years with his performances for Glasgow, reclaiming his Scotland shirt in the process.

JP’s first start for the Warriors therefore presents his biggest opportunity so far to show exactly what he can bring to the club. The giant lock’s bench appearances to date have demonstrated that he is (unsurprisingly) a great target at the lineout. While he does get involved with carrying duties, his favourite thing seems to be melting rucks. That’s a useful characteristic for a team like Glasgow who are looking to play with quick, clean ball as much as possible.

If he’s going to lead the charge in this area then the coaches will probably be looking for JP to hit 30+ breakdowns (attack + defence). Expect a busy afternoon for the 6 ft 10 1⁄2 in behemoth.

Past meetings at The Rec:

10/12/05 (report)
Bath 31
T: Frikkie Welsh, Michael Stephenson, Michael Lipman, Salesi Finau
C: Olly Barkley
P: Olly Barkley (3)
Glasgow 26
T: Andy Henderson, Dan Parks
C: Dan Parks (2)
P: Dan Parks (3), Colin Gregor

7/12/08 (report)
Bath 35
T: Andy Beattie, Michael Stephenson (2), Shaun Beirne
C: Butch James (2), Shaun Beirne
P: Butch James (3)
Glasgow 31
T: Thom Evans (3), Hefin O’Hare, Ruaridh Jackson
C: Colin Gregor (2), Ruaridh Jackson

21/01/12 (report)
Bath 23
T: Tom Biggs, Ben Skirving
C: Olly Barkley (2)
P: Olly Barkley (3)
Glasgow 18
T: Tommy Seymour, Rob Harley
C: Scott Wight
P: Duncan Weir (2)

25/01/15 (report)
Bath 20
T: Penalty try (2)
C: George Ford, Ollie Devoto
P: George Ford (2)
Glasgow 15
T: Alex Dunbar, Richie Vernon
C: Finn Russell
P: Finn Russell

Dave Attwood (2015), Richie Gray (2012) and Ryan Wilson (2012) are the only players from among the 46 on show on Saturday who have previous experience of playing in a competitive fixture between these two sides.

Previous meeting in Bath:

Full highlights are not available but here is RV’s classic score from early in the second half.

If you fancy watching the whole game back (tries, cards, thrills, spills, Gordy Reid’s mohawk) the full replay is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPGDsmIkHcw.

Officials:

Referee: Adrien Marbot (France)
AR1: Evan Urruzmendi (France)
AR2: Stephane Crapoix (France)
TMO: Patrick Dellac (France)

M. Marbot’s record for 2021/22:

Matches – 8
Average penalty count – 23.9 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 46.5%
Average card count – 1.5 per game
Penalties per card – 15.9

M. Marbot is a new face for Glasgow. Hopefully having a French referee in the league last week against Zebre (M. Trainini) has provided some useful preparation. The Top 14 whistler’s domestic tendencies certainly suggest that plenty of penalties and cards are likely to be on the agenda…

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Additional ref stats from:

https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=5