Match preview: Dragons RFC v Glasgow Warriors, United Rugby Championship match preview 2022/23

KO 3.00 at Rodney Parade
Saturday 28th January 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

• The Warriors have only won 1 of their last 7 seven league matches on Welsh soil – having only lost 1 out of 7 visits immediately prior to the current run.
• Glasgow’s last victory at Dave Parade was in September 2016.
• This will be just the 3rd start together at 9 and 10 for Ali Price and Duncan Weir since Duncy returned to the Warriors at the beginning of the 2021/22 season. Despite the duo having made a combined 251 appearances for the club they have only started together 7 times across their careers.
• The starting XV is the oldest selected so far this season for the Warriors. The pack has an average age of nearly 30 (29.7 to be precise) with Tom Gordon – who turns 26 on Monday the youngest of the starting forwards.
• Midfield linchpin Sam Johnson is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

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

Head to Head:

Back 3 – EVEN

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – ADV Glasgow

Front Row – ADV Glasgow

Second Row – ADV Dragons

Back Row – ADV Glasgow

Subs – EVEN

Once A Warrior:

Aki Seiuli – Warrior number 308 – managed to hammer out 29 appearances for Glasgow in his 18 months with club. The Samoan international was selected for every game he was available for between his debut against Leinster at home in November 2019 and his last match, also against Leinster at home, in June 2020. There was never less than 100% effort from the big man who was a bit of a carrying machine for Glasgow.

Warrior to Watch:

It has been a frustrating season for Sam Johnson but the Dragons’ game gives him the chance to show what Glasgow have been missing from one of the club’s most consistent performers over the last 6 or 7 seasons.

Since coming off the injured list in December, he has only featured in one of the Warriors’ last half dozen games. Compare and contrast to the 5 seasons prior to the current campaign, where Sam was selected for 85% of the games he was fit and not on international duty for – and many of the games he missed would have been due to Scotland rest protocols.

The former Queensland Red has been the midfield linchpin for numerous 10s and a multitude of partners in the centres. As he steps in alongside Stafford McDowall for just the third time, it’s that ability to adapt to what the team requires that helped make him indispensable to the team for such an extended period.

Lack of game time means Sam has missed out on Scotland’s Six Nations’ squad this time round after being one of Gregor Townsend’s go to starters for most of the last 4 years. That will be to Glasgow’s benefit though as they tackle 4 crucial matches during the international window and seek to keep their unbeaten run going.

Glasgow away to Dragons in the URC / PRO14 / PRO12:

• 4 wins
• 2 draws
• 3 losses
• 2 try BPs
• 1 losing BP
• 23 points out of a possible 45 (51%)

Highlights from most recent meeting with Dragons in Wales (a Rainbow Cup match):

Officials:

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 72nd league game)
AR1: Dewi Phillips (WRU)
AR2: Elliot Mayor (WRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

Mr Murphy’s record for 2022/23:

Matches – 12
Average penalty count – 22.6 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 50.6%
Average card count – 1.5 per game
Penalties per card – 15.1

This will be Mr Murphy’s 15th time refereeing Glasgow. He has become one of the regulars for the Warriors among the new generation of officials ever since the old guard of Clancy, Lacey and Owens started to step back. While the Warriors had a run of cards from the Irish whistler back in 2020/21, recent encounters been much better on this front – something they need to keep up against the Dragons.

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