Match Preview: Emirates Lions v Glasgow Warriors, United Rugby Championship 2022/23

KO 2.10 (4.10 local time) at Emirates Airline Park
Saturday 25th February 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

• This is the first time for at least 6 years that Glasgow have named a matchday squad with fewer than 10 Test capped players in it.
• At 929kgs, this is the lightest starting Warriors’ pack this season. Although, for context, outwith the current campaign, Glasgow have only started with a heavier pack than this in one other game during the previous 5 seasons.
• The starting lineup has an average age of 26.0 which makes it the youngest Glasgow XV so far in the 2022/23 season.
• Lewis Bean has been one of Franco Smith’s go to players during Glasgow’s unbeaten run and he is this week’s Warrior to Watch.

Teams

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

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Lions

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – ADV Glasgow

Front Row – ADV Lions

Second Row – ADV Glasgow

Back Row – EVEN

Subs – EVEN

Glasgow Greetings:

There is plenty of freshness about the Warriors’ lineup for Saturday afternoon’s game:

• Elias Caven – club debut.
• Ally Miller – first appearance of the season
• Rory Darge – first appearance for 156 days
• Angus Fraser – URC debut
• Allan Dell – club debut

Matchday Milestones:

Saturday will be a big moment in the career of Sam Johnson as he racks up a century of appearances for the Warriors. The former Queensland Reds’ player arrived in Glasgow the best part of 8 years ago and gradually bedded in to a centre rotation that included the likes of Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Peter Horne and Richie Vernon. He really broke through during the 2016/17 season and has gone on to make himself an integral part of the club’s midfield.

Sam is paired in the centres for the 4th time this season with Stafford McDowall – a player who is celebrating a milestone of his own, bringing up his 50th cap for the club. This has been a massive campaign for the skipper who starts for the 12th time, already doubling his previous best for a season – 6 starts in 2019/20.

Elsewhere, Tom Gordon is in line to make his 50th appearance in the URC.

Warrior to Watch:

Like Stafford, Lewis Bean is another player who has blossomed under Franco Smith. After a run of 15 fixtures in which he only played 3 times (across the end of last season and the start of this one) the giant lock has featured in all of Glasgow’s last 13 games. He is the only Warrior to play in every one of the club’s record breaking 10 match unbeaten run.

There’s nothing too flashy about the way Corporal Bean plays the game but his work rate – which has continued to grow throughout his time in Glasgow – and ability to impose himself physically have played a significant role in the side’s heavyweight and muscular approach up front. There’s no doubt the Warriors’ backs can dazzle but they wouldn’t get as many opportunities without the graft from the likes of Beano and his pals in the pack.

Glasgow away to South African sides in the URC/PRO14/12:

• 2 wins
• 5 losses
• 3 try BPs
• 11 points out of a possible 35 (31%)

Glasgow have lost their last 5 in a row on South African soil. In fact, they haven’t taken home a single match point from these fixtures since DTH van der Merwe’s bonus point try in a losing effort against the Southern Kings back in 2018.

Previous meeting with the Lions:

Officials:

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 38th league game)
AR1: AJ Jacobs (SARU)
AR2: Stephan Geldehhuys (SARU)
TMO: Ian Davies (WRU)

Mr Jones’ record for 2022/23:

Matches – 8
Average penalty count –21.8 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 51.1%
Average card count – 2.4 per game
Penalties per card – 9.1

Mr Jones has certainly brandished plenty of cards so far this season. In fact he has yet to make it through a match in the 2002/23 campaign without sin binning at least one player. It’s always possible that this could be his first card free game but both sides will probably need to operate with a level of caution to ensure they are not the ones feeling the wrath of the Welsh whistler.

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