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November 02, 2006
Glasgow Warriors v Connacht
Ben Prescott returns to Glasgow's squad
With three home wins in a row under their belts, Glasgow Warriors head into Friday night's Magners League game against Connacht in an optimistic mood.
Head coach Sean Lineen said: "I think we're playing an exciting brand of rugby and we want to keep building on our home wins so I'd encourage people to come along to the game and give the team their support as there have been some great performances from the guys so far and we plan to keep that going.
"Our last game of last season was against Connacht and it left a bad taste in the mouth as we didn't do very well so it'll be tough, but we're out to turn that score-line around."
The backs start with the same line-up as last week's 69-7 victory over GRAN Parma with the exception of Scott Barrow, who moves to the bench to make way for Francisco Leonelli who had to withdraw from last week's team on the day of the game due to injury.
Sean added: "The competition within the squad is strong and there are a number of positions where we have strength in depth, which we need given our injury list, so it's up to the players to put their hand up and claim their place. Certain players have really stepped up their game and I'm particularly happy with the way Graeme Beveridge has been playing."
In the front row Canadian internationalist Kevin Tkachuk is the only player who remains from last week's starters while Andy Newman replaces Dan Turner in the second row and the back row remains the same.
The bench sees the return of prop Ben Prescott who has been sidelined through long term injury (shoulder and then calf) making only four appearances (two starts and two off the bench) last season and so far this season has played in the back up squad matches against Edinburgh and Border Reivers.
The Glasgow Warriors team to play Connacht in the Magners League on Friday 3 November at Hughenden (kick off 7.30pm) is as follows:
HAWKS RELATED PLAYERS@
15 Francisco Leonelli
14 Rory Lamont@
13 Graeme Morrison@
12 Andy Henderson@
11 Hefin O'Hare
10 Dan Parks
9 Graeme Beveridge
1 Kevin Tkachuk
2 Fergus Thomson*@
3 Justin Va'a
4 Andy Newman
5 Alastair Kellock* CAPTAIN
6 Andrew Wilson*
8 Jon Petrie
7 John Barclay*
Substitutes
16 Ben Prescott
17 Scott Lawson*
18 Dan Turner
19 Steve Swindall@
20 Sam Pinder
21 Ruaridh Jackson**
22 Scott Barrow
Unavailable for selection due to injury: James Eddie (ankle), Thom Evans (cheekbone), Colin Gregor (thigh), Donnie Macfadyen (thigh), Sean Marsden (hamstring), Mike Roberts (knee and jaw), Colin Shaw (ankle).
The following National Academy players are available to play for their clubs this weekend:
Willie Brown**, Jamie Hunter** (both Hillhead-Jordanhill), Moray Low** (Aberdeen GSFP), Colin White** (Ayr), Allan Kelly** (Glasgow Hawks), Calum Forrester** (GHA) and Ben Addison** (Stirling County) in the following fixtures: Watsonians v Glasgow Hawks, Aberdeen GSFP v Ayr, Biggar v Hillhead-Jordanhill, Hamilton v Stirling County, GHA v Edinburgh Academical.
*Member of the Scottish Institute of Sport. **Member of the West of Scotland Institute of Sport
Form: Glasgow Warriors' two victories so far in the Magners League have been against Munster and Border Reivers, whilst the Warriors have won their last three games at Hughenden in all competitions.
Connacht won last time out in the Magners League: 16-9 at home to the Dragons but this game represents their first away game in the competition since 1 September when they won 29-15 at Border Reivers.
Glasgow have the slight edge in the eight previous meetings between the two, gaining four victories to Connacht's three plus one match drawn.
Connacht: 15 Daniel Riordan, 14 Matt Mostyn, 13 Paul Warwick, 12 Gavin Williams, 11 Darren Yapp, 10 Mark McHugh, 9 Chris Keane, 8 Colm Rigney, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Andrew Farley, 4 David Gannon, 3 Brett Sturgess, 2 John Fogarty (c), 1 Ray Hogan
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Brett Wilkinson, 18 Michael Swift, 19 Brendan O'Connor, 20 Conor O'Loughlin, 21 Keith Matthews, 22 John Hearty.
Referee: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Touch judges: John Steele, Graeme Marshall (both Scotland)
This article was posted on 2-Nov-2006, 12:47 by Hugh Barrow.
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