Match preview: Munster v Glasgow Warriors, United Rugby Championship 2022/23

KO 5.30 at Thomond Park
Saturday 25th March 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 2

• Glasgow’s last game at Thomond Park was 1,611 days ago, in October 2018.
• The Warriors’ only wins at this venue came in:
  • April 2014, a 22 – 5 triumph on the same day another Glasgow squad won the club’s first Melrose 7s title;
  • February 2006, a 26 – 20 victory that was the Warriors only away win in a season when they finished bottom of the league.
• Since that win in 2014, Glasgow have managed just a single victory on Irish soil against the big 3 of Leinster, Munster and Ulster (Jonny Gray’s 43-tackle game in 2019 at the RDS).
• Munster’s replacement prop Stephen Archer only has 11 fewer appearances for his club than the entire Glasgow bench combined do for theirs (256 v 267).
• This is the fifth consecutive match with Sam Johnson and Stafford McDowall at 12 and 13, the first centre pairing to do so during the 2022/23 campaign. Sam Johnson and Sione Tuipulotu also managed this feat last season.
• Pumas’ stand off Domingo Miotti is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

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

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Munster

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – EVEN

Front Row – ADV Glasgow

Second Row – EVEN

Back Row – ADV Glasgow

Subs – ADV Munster

Glasgow Greetings:

There are very welcome returns to the Warriors’ lineup for both Fagerson brothers. Zander Fagerson has played just 12 minutes for the club since the game versus the Sharks on 15th October, while this will be Matt Fagerson’s first URC match since the dramatic win over the Stormers on the 8th of January.

Warrior to Watch:

For a variety of reasons, including unfortunately timed injuries, Glasgow fans have had limited opportunities to see what Domingo Miotti can bring to the table but now the Argentinian stand off gets the chance to strut his stuff in a really big game for the club.

This will be just the 3rd start in the URC for Domingo – with both his previous outings coming versus Benetton at home. The Pumas’ pivot had to depart early in the Challenge Cup against Perpignan but was a central figure in arguably the club’s best win of the season (so far…) when he started away to Bath in Europe.

With fellow Weegentinians, Sebastian Cancelliere, Facundo Cordero and Enrique Pieretto on the injured list, it’s up to Domingo and replacement tighthead Lucio Sordoni to bring the South American fire as the Warriors look for a rare win away to Munster that would go a long way towards helping secure a home quarter-final in the playoffs.

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

• 1 win
• 7 losses
• 1 try BP
• 4 losing BPs
• 9 points out of a possible 40 (22%)

Highlights from most recent meeting away to Munster:

Officials:

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 33rd league game)
AR1: Jonny Erskine (IRFU)
AR2: Sam Holt (IRFU)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

Sig. Piardi’s record for 2022/23:

Matches – 12
Average penalty count – 24.1 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 45.7%
Average card count – 1.8 per game
Penalties per card – 13.1

This will be Sig. Piardi’s 3rd time refereeing Glasgow. Those previous encounters were a tricky win away to Zebre in 2021 and – well best not to talk about the last time he took charge of a Warriors’ match at the RDS nine months ago…

The Italian official has issued multiple cards in 7 of his 12 games this season. The ability to cope with playing shorthanded and / or take advantage of being a player up could be crucial.

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Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=6