Glasgow Warriors vs Leinster Rugby
Pro Rugby
Scotstoun
Monday, 2nd November 2020, 20:15
TV: Live on Eir Sports
Monday, Bloody Monday!
You got to hand to those Pro-whatever administrators, they are the masters at giving the fans what they never asked for.
- A couple of sub standard South African teams in a desperate bid for the South African TV cash.
- Splitting the league into conferences, ruining the basic integrity of a league where everyone is supposed to play each other an even number of times.
- Monday night rugby.
- Social media influencers as guest referees.
Okay that last one hasn't been introduced yet, but don't rule it out given how desperate these clowns are to try anything.
People will say there's Monday night soccer, so what's the problem? Well nearly every soccer fan groans when they realise their team isn't playing until Monday. Sport in general is something you look forward to at the weekend. It's bad enough when you're looking forward to your rugby team playing and you realise you have to wait until Sunday for your team to play. Monday isn't even the weekend, it's the next week!
It has been said that Monday right rugby is a short-term measure while fans mostly can't attend matches and also not to clash as much with the busy international schedule in October and November. However this weekend, Pro rugby chose to leave Friday completely empty of fixtures and play all their games on Sunday and Monday. This despite there being no international games on Friday at all. The mind boggles.
However Leinster have no choice but to just get on with it and after yet another dispiriting Ireland defeat on Saturday, it might lift some of gloom or at least provide a distraction. They take on a Glasgow team who have lost much of their sheen from recent seasons where they were regularly proper challengers. Their marquee players Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray have decamped to win trophies at Exeter and coach David Rennie has taken over the Australia job.
Last season, they failed to make the play-offs and they haven't started the season well with only one win from their first three games. However their coach Danny Wilson has named a pretty strong looking squad considering they would have been missing several players to international duty. Rob Harley and Ryan Wilson bring massive experience and no little bit of niggle to the pack while the backline consists of six Scottish internationals plus the explosive Fijian Niko Matawalu.
Leinster coach Leo Cullen has made minimal changes to the team that dominated Zebre last week. Cian Kelleher and Rory O'Loughlin are fit again to take their places in the three-quarter line. Double try scorer from last week Tommy O'Brien moves from the wing to inside centre. The other double try scorer from last week Dan Sheehan has to make do with a place on the bench as James Tracy comes in to start at hooker. It's the only change to the pack that is again led by Rhys Ruddock from number eight. David Hawkshaw was a late withdrawal from the bench last week but he's named there again and will hopefully get to make his debut this week. After making his long-awaited comeback without issue last weekend, flanker Dan Leavy is named in the number 23 jersey again.
It should be quite an open game, but if their pack can provide them with some decent ball Glasgow's quality backline could prove a match winner.
Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets)
| Glasgow Warriors |
Leinster Rugby | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | Huw Jones | 15 | Jimmy O'Brien |
| Tommy Seymour | 14 | Cian Kelleher | |
| Nick Grigg | 13 | Rory O'Loughlin | |
| Sam Johnson | 12 | Tommy O'Brien | |
| Niko Matawalu | 11 | Dave Kearney | |
| Pete Horne | 10 | Harry Byrne | |
| George Horne | 9 | Luke McGrath | |
| Aki Seiuli | 1 | Peter Dooley | |
| Grant Stewart | 2 | James Tracy | |
| D'arcy Rae | 3 | Michael Bent | |
| Rob Harley | 4 | Ross Molony | |
| Hamish Bain | 5 | Devin Toner | |
| Ryan Wilson (C) | 6 | Josh Murphy | |
| Tom Gordon | 7 | Scott Penny | |
| TJ Ioane | 8 | Rhys Ruddock (C) |
|
| Replacements | George Turner | 16 | Dan Sheehan |
| Alex Allan | 17 | Michael Milne | |
| Enrique Pieretto | 18 | Tom Clarkson | |
| Chris Fusaro | 19 | Jack Dunne | |
| Fotu Lokotui | 20 | Scott Fardy | |
| Jamie Dobie | 21 | Hugh O'Sullivan | |
| Brandon Thomson | 22 | David Hawkshaw | |
| Ratu Tagive | 23 | Dan Leavy | |
| Not Considered
due to Injury |
Vakh Abdaladze, Conor O'Brien, Adam Byrne, Tadhg Furlong, Max Deegan, Ryan Baird, Ronan Kelleher, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose |
||
| Officials | Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU) | ||
by Jim O'Connor, © 2020-11-02
