Viadana v Glasgow

[An Tarbh]

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Viadana v Glasgow

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Crucial game for Glasgow's slim hopes of getting through to the knockout stages for the first time where they'll also need things to go their way at Vicarage Rd as well.

Viadana though have proved that they're no mugs this season particularly at home where they have put in strong performances against the perceived better sides so is their chance for their first win in this season's competition or will Glasgow steamroller their oponents.

Recent form is not the best for Glasgow although perhaps they've had their eye on these 2 crucial games.

Should be an away win but hard to discard Viadana given their home performances so far.

Viadana: tba

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Colin Shaw, 13 Colin Gregor, 12 Daryl Gibson, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Sam Pinder, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock ©, 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Ed Kalman, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements: 16 Eric Milligan, 17 Justin Va'a, 18 Moray Low, 19 Dan Turner, 20 James Eddie, 21 Scott Barrow, 22 Hefin O'Hare.

 

[ecks tartan army]

An interesting team selection here - an entirly different front row from any games this season (no fergus?) and also Gregor at 13. And Hef being dropped in favour of Shaw?

But then again, many of the people coming in have a point to prove. This game isnt going to be pretty and for us its all about getting the job done - perhaps Sean has gone with this side on the basis that these guys will want to make a name for themselfs and revive their careers. Afterall, next weeks game against sarries is the one EVERYONE wants to be involved in, so the guys coming in may see this as a chance to give Sean a selection headache.

This is a make-or-break one for Sean now though. If the selection pays off and we come away with the points (espc. a bonus point) then he will be hailed as a genius by the fans. If it goes ***s-up though then the blame will land at his door.

Personally, i think the Warriors should get the win - but im not sure about that all important bonus. I think the sheer determination should be enough to see us through here, however I would not be in the least bit surprised if we slipped up. Oh, and Viadana will get a bonus point.

Also good to see Thom Evans in there - feared for him when he went down at murrayfield so im pleased he has made a speedy recovery. And good luck to Dan (Parks) who will be making his 100th appearance on saturday - but heres hoping his 101st is the most memorable!

 

[An Tarbh]

The bonus point is hugely important though especially if Saracens manage a real doing on Biarritz, the Saracens game is nothing here if they don't get the job done. Is the coach treading on dangerous grounds with this selection or is there enough talent there to see them through???

 

[Prestwick]

Viadana are VERY dangerous at home. When I say VERY dangerous I mean they're potential giant killers. They've already come very close to doing it first against Biarritz when they visited and then Saracens when they came along. Glasgow will have to be on their best behaviour and rely on their impeccably tight defence to prevent the cascade of tries which were nearly the undoing of Bizza and Sarries.

 

[ecks tartan army]

The bonus point is hugely important though especially if Saracens manage a real doing on Biarritz, the Saracens game is nothing here if they don't get the job done. Is the coach treading on dangerous grounds with this selection or is there enough talent there to see them through??? [/b]

The bonus is hugely important, but if we fail to get it it wont be terminal to our chances.



and as for enough talent - well, theres definatly enough talent in the pack. but there short on match fitness - hall, t-bone and kalman havent really featured much this season (well, more so the first 2) and neither has opeta - meanwhile big Al has been out through injury and has missed training for a few days over new year due to his wedding. infact, the only tried and tested combination there is the back row.



and as for the backs, Gregor didnt impress at the beginning of the season, but he was mainly played at stand off while Parks was absent, so i cant comment on him at centre. (although some fellow supporters seem to think this could be a good move for him) Surprised Shaw has kept his place - didnt impress much against the dragons last week, but Hef is there should it not work. Evans is a great player, but hasnt really found any form this season - in the abscence of Fat'au we dont have much choice though.



Stortoni has been fantastic all season apart from one dreadful game (i wont mention who that was against ) and Pinder has been fantastic this season - infact really turned the game when he came on at murrayfield. Scott Barrow has been a fantastic impact player in the tight games this season, and I get the felling we may be calling upon him once more on saturday.



I agree with prestwick, Viadana are a VERY dangerous side - however after the firhill game they will be targetting this game for a win. could they go out with too much confidence and do a 'Scotland' as it has become known to us north of the border?



(ps. Viadana team has now been announced)

 

[Warriors#1]

I was surprised to see the changes that Sean has made for such a crunch game. There are a couple of untested combinations there and we can only hope they pull off. obviuosly T-Bone will add some experiance and power up-front but i cant see him playing the whole game, what with him back from injury.

Good to see Thom back and to see the Pinder-Parks half-back combination still running, my only worry is Gregor. I only hope that he can prove himself at 13 better than he has elsewhere! I am also surprised to see Hef dropped for Shaw but Shaw did play well against Dragons but i think Hef will come on sometime in the 2nd half.

 

[ecks tartan army]

think hef will defo be on in second half.

really hope Gregor proves himself at 13, but Barrow has been superb coming off the bench this season so we will probably se him introduced at some stage.

Viadana:

15 Stuart Moffat; 14 Kaine Robertson (capt.), 13 Garry Law, 12 Matt Harvey, 11 Hayden Pedersen; 10 Calvin Howarth, 9 Graig McGrath; 1 Miguel Alonso, 2 Luigi Ferraro, 3 Ignacio Rouyet; 4 Okert Booyse, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys; 6 Josh Sole, 7 Aldo Birchall, 8 Jaco Erasmus.

Substitutes

16 Andrea Moretti, 17 Andre De Bonis, 18 Critian Bezzi, 19 Samuel Harding, 20 Steven Bortolussi, 21 Corrado PIlat, 22 Hayden Reid

 

[Warriors#1]

not a bad result for Glasgow. Need to work on the lineout for next week. Gregor played well at 13 putting in some nice little kicks and in the end it was Gibson that came off for Barrow. However he did muck up that possible try when he tried to slide on the ball rather than pick it up.

Hard game in which Glasgow managed to get the 4 points. Now it is just Saracens next week at Firhill!

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Why wasnt Fa'atau playing? i dont think they bonus point could really have been expected saying that they wasted a few good chances. Glasgow will be pleased to win though, this could have been a real bannana skin.

 

[Warriors#1]

I think Fa'atau is injured at the moment but im not 100% sure on that, either that or he is being sidelined by the other wingers, but i think it is more likely that he is injured

 

[Incredible Schalk]

I think Fa'atau is injured at the moment but im not 100% sure on that, either that or he is being sidelined by the other wingers, but i think it is more likely that he is injured
[/b]

Right thanks, he is often invisible in games but on the rare occasions when he does get the ball in space he looks brilliant.

 

[Warriors#1]

Well i just looked on the Glasgow Warriors site and it says that he is injured so... that sort of clears that.

 

[ecks tartan army]

disapointed we didnt get the bonus, but our first win away from home in 28 attempts over 10 years - its a long time since we won at Ravenhill in our first season. In the end, weve broken our away duct against a very hard side to play against - we are still in the competition and we can look forward to trying to replicate that sort of result in the league.

Fridays game is huge now - really looking forward to shouting myself hoarse once again and hopefully see us sneak into the quarter finals
(be it as group winners or best runners up)

 

[Warriors#1]

disapointed we didnt get the bonus, but our first win away from home in 28 attempts over 10 years - its a long time since we won at Ravenhill in our first season. In the end, weve broken our away duct against a very hard side to play against - we are still in the competition and we can look forward to trying to replicate that sort of result in the league.[/b]

Correct me if im wrong but didnt we beat Ulster last season at Ravenhill aswell?

 

[An Tarbh]

well since you weren't even in the tournament I don't think that's possible.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

I think he means this year.. <_<

 

[ecks tartan army]

<div class='quotemain'>
disapointed we didnt get the bonus, but our first win away from home in 28 attempts over 10 years - its a long time since we won at Ravenhill in our first season. In the end, weve broken our away duct against a very hard side to play against - we are still in the competition and we can look forward to trying to replicate that sort of result in the league.[/b]

Correct me if im wrong but didnt we beat Ulster last season at Ravenhill aswell? [/b][/quote]



erm, i think were on different wavelengths here.



i was meaning since we beat Ulster in our first H Cup away game. yes, we did beat them there last season (but who dosent these days ) but that was in the magners league.

 

[Warriors#1]

Ah... yes sorry, different league/tournament.