Fijian second-row Leone Nakarawa will make his first start for Glasgow Warriors when they face Cardiff Blues in Round 4 of the Heineken Cup tomorrow night at Scotstoun Stadium (kick-off 8pm).

Nakarawa scored on his debut in the competition last week at Cardiff Arms Park after coming off the bench in the second-half, and has featured twice as a replacement for Glasgow in the RaboDirect PRO12.

In the backs Stuart Hogg continues at full-back and Sean Maitland keeps his place on the right wing, while Tommy Seymour returns from injury to line-up on the left wing in place of DTH van der Merwe.

It’s a new centre partnership with Byron McGuigan coming in for Gabriel Ascarate at outside centre, while Alex Dunbar wears the number 12 jersey.

Ruaridh Jackson replaces Duncan Weir at fly-half and Niko Matawalu continues at scrum-half.

In the pack Ryan Grant plays his third consecutive game at loose-head, with Pat MacArthur replacing Dougie Hall at hooker and Jon Welsh coming in for Moray Low at tight-head.

Nakarawa will combine with captain Al Kellock in the engine room.

In the back row Rob Harley continues at blind-side flanker, with Tyrone Holmes coming in for Chris Fusaro at open-side.

After a long spell on the sidelines through injury Ryan Wilson makes his first start of the season at number 8 in place of Josh Strauss.

Prop Jerry Yanuyantawa returns to the squad after featuring for Fiji in November and has been named amongst the replacements.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: “As a group we were frustrated by the nature of our defeat in Cardiff last week, as we gave up a number of scoring chances.

"We undid so much of our good work primarily by allowing Cardiff to disrupt the ruck area. We pride ourselves on being tough to beat through our defence and being aggressive in contact, but we fell short of the required standards last Friday night.

“Despite having so much possession and territory in the first half we were unable to translate that into points and that is something we’ve worked hard to improve this week.

“We can still progress in this tournament and a huge positive for us is that we have an early opportunity to make amends for last week’s defeat.

“Cardiff Blues are a quality side and played tough rugby for 80 minutes, so we know we’ll face a very difficult game.

“But it looks like we’ll have a big home crowd behind us and I’m confident that those selected will be full of determination and focus to make our supporters proud."

Tickets are still available for tomorrow night's game at Scotstoun Stadium from www.glasgowwarriors.org and from the ticket office on 0844 800 3490 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm). The ticket office at Scotstoun Stadium will be open on Friday from 10am and subject to availability tickets can be purchased right up until kick-off.

Glasgow Warriors team to play Cardiff Blues, Heineken Cup, Scotstoun Stadium, Friday 13 December (kick-off 8pm):
15. Stuart Hogg
14. Sean Maitland
13. Byron McGuigan
12. Alex Dunbar
11. Tommy Seymour
10. Ruaridh Jackson
9. Niko Matawalu

1. Ryan Grant
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Jon Welsh
4. Leone Nakarawa
5. Al Kellock (Captain)
6. Rob Harley
7. Tyrone Holmes
8. Ryan Wilson

16. Dougie Hall
17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa
18. Ed Kalman
19. Josh Strauss
20. Chris Fusaro
21. Chris Cusiter
22. Duncan Weir
23. DTH van der Merwe

This article was posted on 12-Dec-2013, 11:58 by Hugh Barrow.