Max boost for Glasgow

Glasgow Warriors today welcomed the return of Scotland centre Max Evans and Scotland U20 lock Richie Gray as they seek to return to winning ways against Connacht tomorrow night (ko 7.30pm).
Max – who injured his knee against Ospreys in May – excelled in his return to competitive rugby for associated Scottish Hydro Premier One club Glasgow Hawks last weekend while Gray gets his first start of the season after recovering from an elbow injury sustained while on the side’s pre-season tour of France.
Head coach Sean Lineen believes the pair’s return can help inspire a home win for the Warriors.
He said: “We’re really looking forward to them coming back. Max is a quality player. He adds another dimension to outside-centre play with his ability to beat his opposite man and has a little bit more experience now.
“He got a taste of Scotland action last year and wants to get back in there.
“Richie Gray played against Connacht in his first game last season and made a big impact, literally. He’s a big lad. He’s young but creates a pretty potent second-row combination with Al Kellock and I’m looking forward to seeing that work.”
Max and Richie are the latest players to return to the Warriors team which endured an outbreak of flu.
With last weekend’s return of Scotland internationalists Chris Cusiter and Graeme Morrison, Sean is happy to be announcing 12 internationalists in the 1st XV.
“It’s been a pretty testing time this past month, 24 guys with the flu in total on top of some injuries but the players that have come in have done a great job,” he added.
“We’re still doing really well in the Magners League in fact there’s only one team [Munster] that’s had more wins than us so we’re up there despite really testing the squad.
“The team spirit has always been fantastic at Glasgow. We’ve never given up and there’s always been an edge to our game.
“The players have never lost their belief. We just to need make teams work a lot harder to get any form of points, build on that pressure, take our points when they’re due and go into this game against Connacht and get a good win.”
Glasgow Warriors

15 Bernardo Stortoni
14 Colin Shaw
13 Max Evans
12 Graeme Morrison
11 Thom Evans
10 Dan Parks
9 Chris Cusiter
1 Jon Welsh
2 Dougie Hall
3 Moray Low
4 Richie Gray
5 Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN
6 Kelly Brown
7 John Barclay
8 Johnnie Beattie

Replacements
16 Pat MacArthur
17 Kevin Tkachuk
18 Dan Turner
19 Richie Vernon
20 Mark McMillan
21 Colin Gregor
22 Hefin O'Hare

This article was originally posted on 22-Oct-2009, 19:42 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 22-Oct-2009, 19:47.