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

KO 7.35 at Scotstoun Stadium
Saturday 6th May 2023
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

• Glasgow are looking for a 3rd successive victory against Munster which would equal their longest winning streak against the Irish side (April 2014, May 2014 and December 2014 under Gregor Townsend; September 2005, February 2006 and September 2006 under Hugh Campbell and Sean Lineen).
• Munster lost their first 4 away matches of the season in the URC but are unbeaten in their last 5 league fixtures on the road, including ending Stormers’ 19-match home winning streak just 3 weeks ago.
• The Warriors are defending a 17-match undefeated run of their own at home and won’t want the visitors to terminate another lengthy streak.
• The Warriors have beaten Munster in all 3 previous knockout matches in which these sides have met:
  • 18 – 14 (Celtic Cup quarter-final at Hughenden, October 2003)
  • 16 – 15 (PRO12 semi-final at Scotstoun, May 2014)
  • 31 – 13 (PRO12 final at the Kingspan, May 2015)
• The winner of this game will either travel to Dublin to play Leinster or host the Sharks in the semi-finals.
• The Glasgow starting XV have combined for 176 previous tries for the club, the highest tally for any selection in their last 65 games.
• This will be just the 4th match RG Snyman has started for Munster since arriving at the club in May 2020.
• The irrepressible Ollie Smith is the Warrior to Watch.

Teams

(players in CAPITALS are full capped internationals, numbers in brackets are previous appearances this season for Glasgow / Munster in the URC only)

Head to Head:

Back 3 – ADV Glasgow

Centres – ADV Glasgow

Half Backs – ADV Munster

Front Row – EVEN

Second Row – EVEN

Back Row – ADV Glasgow

Subs – EVEN

Changes from Round 16:

These sides met at the end of March at Thomond Park with the Warriors running out 38 – 26 winners.

Glasgow have made 9 changes to their starting XV from that game:

• 14. CANCELLIERE for Forbes
• 12. TUIPULOTU for JOHNSON
• 11. STEYN for DOBIE
• 10. Jordan for MIOTTI
• 9. HORNE for PRICE
• 1. BHATTI for McBeth
• 2. Matthews for BROWN
• 4/5. GRAY for du Preez with CUMMINGS switching from 5 to 4
• 8. DEMPSEY for VAILANU

Munster have made 7 changes to their starting XV:

• 10/12/13. Frisch for CARBERY with FEKITOA moving from 13 to 12 and CROWLEY moving from 12 to 10
• 9. MURRAY for Patterson
• 1. LOUGHMAN for KILCOYNE
• 3. ARCHER for Salanoa
• 5. SNYMAN for F. Wycherley
• 6. BEIRNE for O’DONOGHUE
• 7. O’MAHONY for Hodnettt

Matchday Milestones:

After his late withdrawal ahead of the Scarlets game, there’s a second chance for Richie Gray to join his wee brother as a Warrior Centurion. Richie’s 100th appearance for Glasgow will come 14 years, 1 month and 28 days since he made his debut from the bench against Ulster in March 2009.

Warrior to Watch:

Fleet-footed full back Ollie Smith has had a fairly remarkable season. He has been on the winning side in the last 12 games he has played – and even his last defeat, way back in October, would have been another victory if a last minute penalty had bisected the posts against Australia.

Ollie started to pick up regular game time under Danny Wilson in the second half of the 2021/22 campaign but after making his Test debut last summer away to Argentina, it feels like he has made a major breakthrough as part of Franco Smith’s squad.

Two starts on the wing have added to his flexibility (extremely useful for making it into a matchday 23 that almost always features a 6 forwards, 2 backs split), even before taking into account that he was frequently deployed in the centres by Ayr as he was rising through the ranks.

The full back is an elusive runner with the confidence to back his ability. He’s currently the most complete option available to fill the 15 shirt for Glasgow and all his attributes under the high ball, in defence and attack will be tested to the utmost as the Warriors’ look to compete on two fronts over the final few weeks of the season.

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

• Regular season matches:
  • 6 wins
  • 4 losses
  • 3 try BPs
  • 2 losing BPs
  • 29 points out of a possible 50 (58%)
• There was also a famous playoff semi-final win for the Warriors 9 years ago. On the flip side, Munster can add a win in the Champions Cup to their tally of successes at Scotstoun.

Previous match-up v Munster at Scotstoun:

And – just because it has to be done – previous playoff match-up v Munster at Scotstoun:

Conor Murray is the only one of the 46 players selected for Saturday evening’s game who also played in that semi-final 9 years ago.

Officials:

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 35th league game)
AR1: Adam Jones (WRU)
AR2: Manuel Bottino (FIR)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

Sig. Piardi’s regular season record for 2022/23:

Matches – 15
Average penalty count – 23.2 per game
Home side penalties conceded percentage – 43.1%
Average card count – 1.9 per game
Penalties per card – 12.0

Sig. Piardi has dished out at least 1 card in 11 of his 15 matches this season (and in 13 out of 15 games last season) – although the most recent occasion he kept his cards in his pocket was Glasgow’s visit to Munster six weeks ago. The Warriors lost the penalty count 13 – 7 that day. Not that it mattered though as they raced out to a 31 – 0 lead before seeing out the bonus point win.

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Additional ref stats from:

https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=6