Glasgow Warriors have named their team to take on Ulster in Friday's Heineken Cup match at Scotstoun (ko 8.00pm).
After last week’s narrow defeat away to English Premiership leaders Northampton Saints, Gregor Townsend’s team know they must emerge victorious to sustain their ambitions of progressing to the knock-out stages of the competition.

Head coach Townsend today set his sights on a repeat performance, telling glasgowwarriors.org : “This is another landmark night for the club, and we’re all absolutely determined to claim what would be a vital win.

“We were pleased with how we performed in the first 30 minutes at Northampton, but are well aware that against the calibre of opponents we play in this competition, we need to be at the top of our game for the full 80.

“Our 18-10 defeat to Ulster on the first night of the RaboDirect PRO12 season was quite similar to the Northampton game, in that we did a lot of things very well but didn’t quite sustain it over the piece.

“As their results show, Ulster have improved since then, but we have as well. We go into the game with confidence, pushing to secure the win for what’s shaping up to be a big home crowd.”

Glasgow's starting XV for the game in part depends on the outcome of the Tommy Seymour disciplinary hearing being held in Dublin today. The winger was cited in the aftermath of the Northampton game for an alleged dangerous tackle on the Saints player Vas Artemyev.

IRB Regulation 17 states that a cited player is not eligible to play until the disciplinary process has been concluded, and as such Seymour has not been named in the Warriors team at this stage.

Should Tommy be cleared to play, he will start the game on the right wing. If he is not cleared to play, Byron McGuigan will make his Heineken Cup debut in that role.

Elsewhere in the backline, Peter Murchie will start at outside centre, Sean Lamont missing out with the facial injury he suffered at Northampton and which is still subject to further assessment. Alex Dunbar will line up on the left wing.

There are two changes up front, Tom Ryder getting the nod over Tim Swinson in the second row and Chris Fusaro coming in for John Barclay at openside flanker. The Warriors welcome back Robert Harley, who has been missing since the start of September with a knee injury.

Gregor said: “Whatever happens with Tommy’s hearing, our team tomorrow night will be strong and more than capable of delivering the right result.

“With a number of injuries in the backs, we’ve had to do some rejigging, but both Alex Dunbar and Peter Murchie have plenty of experience in the positions they’ll be playing and, like the rest of the team, have gone really well in training this week.”

Friday's game is heading towards a sell-out, with only a handful of seats left in the Main stand and the North stand sold out. A limited number of tickets are also available in the covered East Terrace that has been put in place for this game in response to demand from supporters, as well as the west standing area.

Tickets are available online and by calling 0844 800 3490. Standing tickets are also available in store at the Gordon Street and Sauchiehall Street branches of Greaves Sports, our official retail partner.

Glasgow Warriors

15 Stuart Hogg

14 Byron McGuigan *
13 Peter Murchie
12 Peter Horne
11 Alex Dunbar

10 Ruaridh Jackson
9 Henry Pyrgos

1 Ryan Grant
2 Dougie Hall
3 Michael Cusack
4 Tom Ryder
5 Alastair Kellock (Captain)
6 Josh Strauss
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Ryan Wilson

Substitutes

16 Finlay Gillies
17 Ofa Fainga'anuku
18 Gordon Reid
19 Tim Swinson
20 Robert Harley *
21 John Barclay
22 Scott Wight
23 Nikola Matawalu *

* If Tommy Seymour is cleared to play, he will come into the starting XV at 14. Byron McGuigan will go onto the bench at 23, with Sean Kennedy coming in at 21. John Barclay will move to 20, with Robert Harley and Nikola Matawalu dropping out of the match-day squad.

Not considered for selection due to injury: Chris Cusiter (shoulder), Ed Kalman (back), Rory Lamont (leg), Sean Lamont (face), Moray Low (knee), Pat MacArthur (foot), Angus Macdonald (neck), Graeme Morrison (knee), DTH van der Merwe (hamstring), Jon Welsh (shoulder), Duncan Weir (knee)

This article was posted on 18-Oct-2012, 12:21 by Hugh Barrow.