Glasgow Warriors return to Magners League duty at Firhill tomorrow night (18 March, kick-off 7.30pm) for the rescheduled round 10 fixture against Benetton Treviso which fell victim to the wintry weather in December.

Following Italy’s triumphant win over France in the RBS 6 Nations last weekend, the Warriors are expecting to host a team on a high. But with Scotland facing the Azzurri at Murrayfield the very next day, Glasgow head coach Sean Lineen is also aware of the wider benefits of a Friday night win at Firhill.

 “After the Italian win against France I would think they’ll be pretty buoyant," he said. "The guys know that performance is one thing but at the beginning of an important weekend for Scottish rugby it would be great to get a good start with a win over Treviso who are a strong side.”

The Warriors continue to be without many of their frontline players as they weather a period where 17 players are currently unavailable for selection.

However, they are able to list the likes of Moray Low, Rob Harley and Johnnie Beattie in their forward pack – an area where Glasgow expect to be fully tested in addition to Treviso’s attacking threats out wide.

Assessing the challenge ahead, Lineen continued: “Treviso have some quality players like Joe Maddock – the ex-Canterbury Crusader who spent some time at Bath. They have been around for a long time and have featured in the Heineken Cup for a number of years so we respect them.

“But this is the fifth game we’ve had during the Six Nations window when I think there have been improvements but we need to get a result.

“It’s been a challenging season, but we need to live in the present and make sure the guys deliver on Friday night. We just need to turn up with the right attitude and get stuck in.”

The Warriors have made seven personnel changes, plus two positional switches, for tomorrow night’s match.

In the forwards, Scotland prop Moray Low returns to bolster the front row alongside loosehead Jon Welsh who makes his comeback from a rib injury.

Flanker Rob Harley and No.8 Johnnie Beattie are reinstated to the back-row having featured off the bench in the Warriors’ last outing against the Ospreys a fortnight ago, Ryan Wilson moves from No.8 to openside flanker as part of the reshuffle.

Bernardo Stortoni is also promoted from the replacements whilst his fellow countryman Federico Aramburu has fully recovered from the flu and starts at outside centre.

Alex Dunbar starts in place of the injured DTH van der Merwe.

Glasgow Warriors team to play Benetton Treviso in the Magners League at Firhill Stadium on Friday 18 March (kick-off 7.30pm)

15 Bernardo Stortoni

14 Hefin O’Hare
13 Federico Aramburu
12 Peter Murchie
11 Alex Dunbar

10 Duncan Weir
9 Colin Gregor CAPTAIN

1 Jon Welsh
2 Fergus Thomson
3 Moray Low
4 Aly Muldowney
5 Tom Ryder
6 Rob Harley
7 Ryan Wilson
8 Johnnie Beattie

Substitutes: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Ryan Grant, 19 James Eddie, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Dave McCall

Unavailable for selection: John Barclay (Scotland), Chris Cusiter (knee), Rob Dewey (knee), Max Evans (Scotland), James Fleming (knee), Calum Forrester (knee), Richie Gray (Scotland), Dougie Hall (shoulder), Stuart Hogg (shoulder), Ruaridh Jackson (Scotland), Ed Kalman (back), Alastair Kellock (Scotland), Murray McConnell (back), DTH van der Merwe (wrist), Graeme Morrison (knee), Colin Shaw (knee), Richie Vernon (Scotland).

This article was posted on 17-Mar-2011, 12:36 by Hugh Barrow.