Stuart Hogg will make his first appearance in a Warriors jersey since the narrow defeat to Toulon in January, when he starts against Benetton Treviso at the Stadio Monigo tomorrow night.

The full-back has recovered from a hamstring injury and replaces Peter Murchie at full-back, while Tommy Seymour moves to the right wing and Niko Matawalu comes in for Sean Maitland on the opposite side.

Mark Bennett keeps the No. 13 jersey, with Peter Horne coming in at inside centre and Finn Russell switching to stand-off in place of Ruaridh Jackson.

Henry Pyrgos, who scored a brace of tries when the two teams met at Scotstoun last month, replaces Chris Cusiter at scrum-half.

In the pack Gordon Reid comes in for Ryan Grant at loose-head, Pat MacArthur replaces Dougie Hall at hooker and Geoff Cross is named at tight-head in place of Jon Welsh.

Tim Swinson comes back into the team in place of Al Kellock, after recovering from illness, and he will partner Jonny Gray in the engine room.

Rob Harley continues at blindside flanker, with Tyrone Holmes replacing Chris Fusaro at openside and Josh Strauss starting at number 8 and captaining the side.

Six of the eight players named on the bench started in last week’s win over Edinburgh Rugby.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: "Our win over Edinburgh has given everyone at the club a massive boost ahead of the final two games of the regular season, but we face another tough test tomorrow night in Italy.

On home soil Treviso perform with an intensity and physicality that makes them one of the most challenging sides you can face in the PRO12 on the road and defensively we’ll need to be at our very best.

"Conceding four tries last weekend really hurt us and we are determined to deliver a much improved defensive performance tomorrow night.

“There is a lot of rugby still to be played this season and we must go out and put in an 80-minute performance if we’re to secure our place in the play-offs.”

Glasgow Warriors team to play Benetton Treviso, RaboDirect PRO12, Stadio Monigo, Friday 2 May (kick-off 8pm local time) – live on BBC ALBA:
15. Stuart Hogg
14. Tommy Seymour
13. Mark Bennett
12. Peter Horne
11. Niko Matawalu
10. Finn Russell
9. Henry Pyrgos

1. Gordon Reid
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Geoff Cross
4. Tim Swinson
5. Jonny Gray
6. Rob Harley
7. Tyrone Holmes
8. Josh Strauss (Captain)

Substitutes

16. Fraser Brown
17. Ryan Grant
18. Jon Welsh
19. Leone Nakarawa
20. Chris Fusaro
21. Chris Cusiter
22. Ruaridh Jackson
23. Sean Maitland

Not available due to injury: Mike Cusack (medical/illness), Alex Dunbar (wrist/thumb), Finlay Gillies (neck), Ed Kalman (back), Sean Lamont (knee), Tom Ryder (knees), DTH van der Merwe (shoulder) and Ryan Wilson (shoulder).

This article was posted on 1-May-2014, 11:11 by Hugh Barrow.