Glasgow Warriors v Zebre Friday 5th October

Glasgow Warriors v Zebre
Scotstoun Stadium
Glasgow

KO 19.35
Live on Premier Sports

Glasgow last pre Europe game coming up. Having achieved some sort of redemption for the Port Elizabeth debacle with a solid if unspectacular 5 pointer against the Drags, we move on to another match we should normally be expected to win quite comfortably.

Selection for this one might be a little tricky though. Zebre are not quite the push over they once were and we have already seen what can happen if the foot gets taken off the gas. By the same token, we have two hard euro games coming up and then Munster away before going directly in to the AIs, with the new 4th fixture in Cardiff, which will take a heavier than usual toll of home based players, being outside of the window.

So it won't be a case of putting out our strongest team to steam roller them, we surely have to save players for the euro games, where we do have a chance of qualification if we play to our true potential. There may also be some edicts from the SRU about resting some players as the upcoming schedule is going to be demanding no doubt.

I fancy we will see a fair bit of rotation for this game, but with a pretty loaded up bench, just to keep everyone on the pitch honest and to get us out of trouble should we need it.

Here is a stab at the team:

Kibble - had a week off already and will get more down time in the AIs.
Turner - a chance to redeem himself fully for SA
Nicol - Needs the chance to prove himself as he is only one injury away from being our 1st choice
Harley - I think he is going to be playing a lot in the row this season
Davidson - Deserves a chance to start
Gibbins - Another who can get a rest in the AIs
Fagerson - A promising game last week as he works his way back from injury, looked better than Ashe has
Fusaro - DR seems to have taken a shine to him
Horne - His turn to start, was good off the bench last week
Thompson - Got to give him a proper try out, he will be needed in the window
Nairn - Deserves his chance to start, will be getting more games from here on in
Dunbar - Best he has played in a while last week and the partnership with Jones was good
Jones H - see above
Seymour - He had a rest last week and might have noticed that there may be some competition for wing spots this season
Hughes - Deserves a game and Jacko has not set heather on fire so far this season

Subs:

Allen - unlucky not to be starting, has been playing well
Bryce - Brown needs to be managed carefully over the season
Rae - Needs a rest as well but will have to manage with just 20 mins
Gray J - might be needed if game not going to plan
Tamileau - Time we saw what he can do
Frisbee - Price due a rest and needs to show us he can play
Horne P - Hopefully a week off will have revived him
Niko - the super sub

I don't expect the team to look anything like that, but it is fun guessing!

Is Gray not needing a rest if he is going to play the two Euro games?

JG had the week off against the Kings, so he may have some involvement this weekend, even though ideally he would be rested. We do need to make sure we win this game though. It will be a big ask though to see him play right the way through.

The two euro games should be relatively easy to select, just pick our best team and DR probably has a pretty decent idea what that might be. Munster the week late,r gives more problems however. Do you go full strength into that one or take a tactical hit, through selection as a game we are not really expecting to win?

We will no doubt be pretty bashed up after the euro rounds, though so, you would imagine will be Munster. That will be a far harder selection I would imagine.

Team's oot

1. Oli Kebble (13)
2. George Turner (24)
3. Adam Nicol (6)
4. Andrew Davidson (1)
5. Jonny Gray (90) CAPTAIN
6. Adam Ashe (56)
7. Chris Fusaro (146)
8. Matt Fagerson (29)

9. George Horne (24)
10. Adam Hastings (14)
11. Rory Hughes (34)
12. Alex Dunbar (115)
13. Huw Jones (10)
14. Lee Jones (77)
15. Ruaridh Jackson (139)

Replacements

16. Grant Stewart (7)
17. Alex Allan (78)
18. D'Arcy Rae (44)
19. Greg Peterson (30)
20. Matt Smith (18)
21. Tevita Tameilau (0)
22. Pete Horne (142)
23. Niko Matawalu (95)

Nicol to start must be the big talking point.
However, in the under-20's he looked like a big laddie among younger, smaller lads, but when he came on last week he still looked like he was the biggest guy on the pitch. One things for sure the Italians will find out if there's more to him than bulk.

Next up will be the pack in the last 20;

Allan-Stewart-Rae
Peterson-Davidson ( Jonny should be removed as soon as possible)
Fagerso-TT-Smith

Those are very mobile front and back rows. Peterson??? Not so much.

Mind you Horne the younger ripping it up for 55 minutes and the Mad Mata coming on to steady the ship

P Horne, L Jones and Rozza Hughes will all be hoping to force their way into the reckoning for the Sarries match. If DTH and Seymour are fit then I think they may all be disappointed. Horne should be in the 23 but his performance in PE was utterly rank. He is a good enough player to bounce back....but we have said that, or similar, far too many times over too many seasons.Bear in mind he is easily one of my favourite Warriors ever.

Four points and no injuries will be a godsend.

Tevita Tameilau. That's a player I'm looking forward to seeing play for Warriors off the bench this weekend. Think he has a lot of potential and could really help the Glasgow pack improve their reputation, especially come 6N time.

Well my selection was nott to far away, though he maybe has rested a few more than I thought he would.

Good to see Nicol start, we need a good 60 mins from him. Zebre are not the worst team to debut against and so I think he will be up to it.

Hastings runs again, which is good and bad. I hope to see him have a good first half, getting us a decent lead and then get pulled early. Most of the rest of the backs will have to do a full stint, with a 5/2 split on the bench, DR clearly feels we win this game up front, then we win the game.. Nico will cover SH/Wing/FB, depending on injury or who gets tired first!

A few of the other bench players will have the chance to prove themselves. Grant gets to show he is worth a contract, Matt Smith that he should have been in the euro squad ahead of Fusaro,Tameliau to show us what DR and the Glasgow coaches see in him and Peterson that he is able to play at this level (something that is seriously in doubt after the Kings game)

This could be an interesting game and not the usual Glasgow style, we need to blow them away early instead of having the subs come on to finish the job as has been our want. Am looking forward to watching it.

15 Edoardo Padovani*

14 Gabriele Di Giulio*

13 Giulio Bisegni

12 Tommaso Boni*

11 Paula Balekana

10 Francois Brummer

9 Marcello Violi*

8 Jimmy Tuivaiti

7 Johan Meyer

6 Apisai Tauyavuca

5 George Biagi (cap)

4 Leonard Krumov*

3 Eduardo Bello

2 Oliviero Fabiani

1 Cruze Ah-Nau

a disposizione

16 Massimo Ceciliani*

17 Daniele Rimpelli*

18 Roberto Tenga

19 Samuele Ortis*

20 Giosué Zilocchi*

21 Riccardo Raffaele*

22 Maicol Azzolini*

23 Giovanbattista Venditti*

Zebre match squad.

I don't recognise a fair few of them, so hard to say how good this is as a team. You can hardly imagine that this would be a game they were targeting, so may have rested a few.

The Largs ice cream magnet, George Biagi is in though, they probably needed someone to translate the Scottish accents!

Good thread Gee.

Rennie seems to like Fagerson as an 8, which is interesting. I would have said that he needs to up his carrying in that case but it's gratifying to see that they think he has potential because Scotland needs quality options there desperately.

It is an interesting back row: all three are very mobile and fast but hardly renowned for barrelling over defences. They are all, individually, well suited to DR's vision of rugby played at pace and with width. With a smallish hooker as well it means that the props and the second rows will be asked to take on a lot of carrying into the heavy traffic off first phase possession. Nicol and Davidson will know they have been in a game by the end of their shifts. If Last Chance Peterson comes on and fails to make holes in a tiring defence it'll be interesting to see what DR does next; full contract for Davidson ?
However, if Horne is getting quick ball at the breakdown then Ashe, Fusaro and Fagerson could really stampede the Zebre defence.

If, a big if, that pack get us on the front foot it'll be worth watching But if the Zebre back row bully us at the breakdown then it's slow ball and probably frustration and running around as if our hair's on fire time again.

Horne and Hastings are incredible. Keeping these two in Glasgow should be priority number 1 going forward.

Right, has to be said. The tunes at the breaks are absolutely awful. Have a word Glasgow.

Missed the game as I am at work.

Good result though and am looking forward to watching it tomorrow.

I jus watched the game and it was certainly entertaining, with some classic coast to coast tries from Glasgow after being largely on the defensive for the first half. You could see them on the half time tv shot clearly getting the hair dryer treatment from DR and it worked!

Zebre came to play and tried very hard in the first half but were just a bit to loose and usually ran into a firm defence and then eventually lost the ball. This also had the effect of tiring them out and they seriously ran out of gas in the second half, not helped by losing a man to the bin for a high tackle.

A few Glasgow players earned some further redemption for the Kings loss. The two players hooked in the first half there both played well. Turner showed what a good player he can be if he keeps the head, really dynamic in the loose and took his try well, he would have got MoM for me. Big Greg, who really got the ire of the fans showed that he can play a bit as well. He carried very strongly, made some yards and scored a relly good try running a sublime line off a George Horne delayed pass. Pete Horne did not have a lot to do but scored a good try at the end, which will hopefully be good for the confidence. I would expect him to bench for the Sarries game next weekend.

Nicol and Davidson had solid if unspectacular debuts. Most of the scrum problems seemed to come on Ollie Keeble side and improved considerably once Alex Allen came on. He seems to have cemented the back up LH spot over Bhatti. We did not see a lot of Tamileau after he came on, but he will be better for having played now. I don't see us seeing him on this round of Euro games but likely a bit more of him in the international window.

There seems a bit of negativity about the Warriors this year, particularly on the Warriors forum. We are 5 from 6 though with a lot of BPs and comfortably lead the conference. We have not played a full 80 min game yet despite looking very good in patches. I think DR will have a pretty good idea about his starting side now though and it was good to be able to rest a good few of them this week and still get 5 points. Next week will give us a much better idea of where we are at. Even losing the game would not be a disaster for me as long as we show that we can compete with them. Sarries look very good this season and must be amongst the favourites to lift the cup.

Zebre have clearly improved and look like they have a bit more depth as well. They are certainly not a pushover any more and will win some more games this season.