Glasgow Warriors v La Rochelle Euro Cup Double Header 7 and 14 December

First topic message reminder :

La Rochelle v Glasgow Warriors
Euro Champions Cup
Stade Marcel Deflanfre
La Rochelle
7th December
KO 15.15

Glasgow Warriotrs v La Rochelle
Euro Champions Cup
Scotstoun Stadium
Glasgow
14th December
KO 17.15

Both live on BT Sport


It is hard to predict what to make of these games coming up.

La Rochelle are out, albeit not mathematically, but they are out nevertheless, having lost 2 games and still to play Exeter away. It is not clear how they will view these games, though my suspicion is that they will put out a reasonable side for the home game first up and then will be less concerned about the return in Glasgow, when their focus will have switched back to the Top 14 fixtures that are coming up. If Glasgow can make any headway against them early on, their interest in the first fixture may end up being short lived as well.

Glasgow are still alive but have made life difficult for themselves by not taking any BPs from either of the games that they have played, they are likely to need to win away here and in sale to qualify and on current form, you would not be betting the mortgage on that happening. We have actually done pretty well against French sides away in recent years but this has not been as recent seasons for Glasgow, we are struggling to win and even struggling to score tries. something which has always come easy to us, even when we have lost games. A big nasty French pack may well cause us problems as well if they show any interest in the game, which is hard to tell, but if we let them get away from us, we will struggle to bring them back.

After the resting of players last week, we are surely going to go into this game with our strongest team and hope we can kick start our season. Maybe something along these lines:

1. Keeble
2. Brown
3. Fagerson Z
4. Gray
5. Cummings
6. Wilson
7. Gibbins
8. Fagerson M
9. Horne G
10. Hastings
11. Steyn
12. Johnson
13. Jones (I can but hope)
14. DTH
15. Seymour

Subs:

Seuili
Turner
Rae
McDonald - one of the few who impressed off the bench last week
Harley
Price
Horne P
Niko

I pick Jones more in hope than expectation and fully expect to see Grigg running out in his place!

La Rochelle mess up the maul and we clear

Glasgow have been much better this half

RDW wrote:Glasgow have been much better this half

Almost unrecognisable

La Rochelle have also been classically French it has to be said!

What a tackle Price!

Last shot for La Rochelle

James bangs it right into the corner

Glasgow turn them over

One scrum to go

and we lose the scrum, penalty La Rochelle

Just pick it up Fagerson!!

They knock on

27-24 Glasgow FT

What fantastic defence

Great win Glasgow!

Well done Glasgow, great win in a great game. Outstanding defensive effort at the end.

What a second half and I did not really see that coming at HT

Much better defence though and really looked like we wanted it at last, very happy to eat my words

Still plenty problems but at last the effort seems to be there

Wow So Glasgow are slogging out gutsy wins and the perfumed ones are playing scintillating (ish) rugby through the backs. I can't quite put my finger on it but something is not quite right here.

A real dogged, old school battling performance. Which may necessitate my taking a soothing dram later.

Concerns; with Kebble missing today due to concussion we could have done without Jinksy Allan going off with an HIA. At loose head Rae is out for the next four months and Halanukonuka, while he should have recovered from injury, has no match time at all. That leaves Ragnar who played a very tough 80 today and young Hector Nicol.

Little Jonny looked dead on his feet in the last 10.

Positives.
Real heart and Warrior spirit from 1-15.
Matt Fagerson was immense.
Ragnar had his man on toast until the last five when he was up against their replacement.
Scott Cummings
Johnson-Grigg a big defensive performance from both of them.
Niko and Seaman...for makeshift wingers they know how to run them in.

I think there will need to be a bit of rotation next week, but that kind of goes against DR's grain. Let's just pray we don't see Why-Naughty Step Child at 9-10

However, I think La Rochelle will gracefully withdraw from the tournament now and field a weakened side next week.

Do we think that a win like that, which we worked very hard for and probably deserved in the end, can kick our season on a bit now?

We are still carrying a few players no doubt, Seymour and DTH just look shadows at the moment and you do wonder what their future with the team actually is now. That has got to be addressed as it is just blunting our attacking game, we used to be deadly on the counter, but now we seem to have virtually nothing.

Steyn made a difference when he came on and should surely be starting now. As far as I am concerned, he and Niko should be our starting wingers now, as DR does not seem to rate any of our other options. Tagive might come back into the equation but is out with a hammy for a while by the sound of things.

We are a bit light at TH as well now, Nicol did not get on, which meant an 80 min shift for Zander, probably justified today, but is not sustainable in the longer term. It sounds like Rae is out for a while as well.

DR has got to get some of the other fringe players up to speed though, Gordon surely needs some game time, we are going to need him this season, same with a few of the other back row options.

Still for all that, today gave us a bit of encouragement, which we badly needed. I am still keeping my hopes checked this season, but have hopes that we can remain competitive after todays game. Whatever you say, it is never easy to go down to France and beat a decent side at home.

Good win Glasgow. Just an observation, both Scottish teams had 3 NWQ players start on the wing this weekend. Does this not seriously narrow the options for Scotland?

VDM (the much better one from Edinburgh) has drunk enough Irn Bru so becomes Scottish in July, so that helps things.

Given that Kinghorn has featured a lot on the wing for Scotland we're not looking too bad just now. Kyle Steyn could end up a winger too.

Overall though we are not blessed with decent wingers. None of the Glasgow prospects, like Hughes and Nairn seem to be kicking on and don't seem to be massively rated by Rennie.

No one is really putting any heat on our 30 something incumbants.

Of course they're NQW, I meant NSQ... Yeah Steyn had a good cameo, a good option for wing as well as centre I guess. I don't exactly think we're blessed with wingers either which is why I'm glad McNicholl opted for Wales. VDM could be some international player if he goes down that route. I think we have a similar prospect playing for Glaws, aged 19 - hopefully his career doesn't go the same way as North's.

True, but for the next few years we're going to have VDM, Maitland, Graham, Kinghorn and Hogg as our frontline back 3 choices which isn't exactly too shabby! We are lacking youngsters but I've mentioned Steyn and then there's the likes of Jack Blaine and some of the young 7s boys who could develop.

Back 3 isn't going to be the area holding us back over the next few years!

I wonder if this win will kick start Glasgow's season. There is still a lot of improvement to be made, and they were helped in part by a bit of a French implosion given La Rochelle were in total control for 39 minutes, but this win will give them a lot of confidence.

I can't imagine La Rochelle are going to care much about the return leg this weekend so that could give them another win to give a bit of momentum.

Shame it's the 1872 after that as you'll be back down to square one! 

Can't wait for the 1872 cup this year. Going to be some nice match ups. Steyn vs VDM is the one I'm most excited about (I fancy Steyn as a George North-esque right winger personally, but I know other Scots fans on here prefer him at outside centre. Either way a good match up of two future Scotland players with a lot of speed and strength in the tackle).

Glasgow are well placed but can't be complacent. I fancy them to pick up the 5 points if they're on song. Will be interesting to see who they select with all these important fixtures incoming.

So, I am not really expecting to many changes for the return against la Rochelle this weekend, the boys did pretty well and no reason not to back it up.

Hopefully something like this:

1. Allen - I think Keeble likely to be rested for this one with his concussion
2. Brown
3. Fagerson M
4. Gray
5. Cummings
6. Wilson
7. Gibbins
8. Fagerson M
9. Horne - though Price did well when he came on and could easily swap
10. Hastings
11. Niko
12. Johnson
13. Grigg - I can't see this changing and he certainly tackled well at the death
14. Steyn - DTH did not look fit last week
15. Seymour

Subs:

Seuili
Turner
Nicol
Harley
Gordon
Price or Horne
Jones H
Jackson - We will need some back three cover as well as FH

1. Aki Seiuli (2)
2. Fraser Brown (94)
3. Zander Fagerson (86)
4. Scott Cummings (63)
5. Jonny Gray (105)
6. Ryan Wilson (159)
7. Callum Gibbins (C) (41)
8. Matt Fagerson (57)
9. Ali Price (81)
10. Adam Hastings (37)
11. Kyle Steyn (19)
12. Stafford McDowall (18)
13. Huw Jones (27)
14. Niko Matawalu (119)
15. Tommy Seymour (137)
16. George Turner (39)
17. Alex Allan (99)
18. Adam Nicol (14)
19. Rob Harley (221)
20. Tom Gordon (10)
21. George Horne (47)
22. Nick Grigg (62)
23. Ruaridh Jackson (157)
Not available due to injury: Nick Frisby (ankle), Oli Kebble (head), Siua Halanukonuka (calf), Pete Horne (head), Paddy Kelly (hamstring), Kiran McDonald (hip), D’arcy Rae (hand), Ratu Tagive (hamstring), Brandon Thomson (calf) and Jale Vakaloloma (shoulder).

Well DR has rolled the dice a little bit and has made a few changes in the backs.

Good to see McDowell and Jones get a start in a big game and hopefully and finally get the chance to show us what they can do. We could really do with a 5 pointer here so having the flair players score some tries would be very useful.

I guess as well he has to think about a bit of rotation as we have three very impoertant league games coming up over the festive period and he can't keep starting our best team week in week out, everyone is going to have to sit out a game or two during that time.

I think he is very much hoping that La Rochelle won't turn up for this game, which is quite possible.

La Rochelle: Murimurivalu, Favre, Plessis, Botia, Andreu, James, Bales; Wardi, Bosch, Puafisi, Lavault, Tanguy, Gourdon (capt), Boudehent, Alldritt.
Replacements: Lebrun, Priso, Pelo, Leroux, Kieft, Berjon, West, Aguillon.


Not full B team, but not full strength either!

From the Beeb

A return to South African Super Rugby outfit Stormer has been rumoured, but Rennie insists Jones is going nowhere.

"No, he's contracted here," said Rennie. "There's always interest because he's a good player. It's a competitive spot for us. It's a bit like our nines, they're duking it out and likewise with Nick [Grigg] and Huw.

"There's obviously areas of his game he wants to be better at and he's working really hard.

"As a midfielder, you've got to be a try creator. He was phenomenal at crossing the chalk for Scotland in his early career. He's a really good player and we want to see the best of him."

I like this attitude. We all knew Jones was pretty raw in certain areas yet phenomenal in others. Seems like he himself is working to solidify his all round game.

Take with a pinch of salt.

Rennie can hardly come out and say huw is wasting away because he isn’t applying himself.

Let’s see if huw enjoys his game today or not

Well looking at that side it seems clear that DR will be prioritising making the knockout stages in Europe over winning the conference at home.
With the exception of Kebble (injured) that is our best front five, and Sue-Ellen has not looked too shabby either.
Cully-Batman-Matt F is DR's go to back row.
Aldi/Hornito-Haircut will be starting all the big games from here to the end of DR's tenure. We really need to be looking at recruiting a 10 as both Furra Linee and Brandon seem to be having a crisis of confidence at the moment
Lord-Stafford and Not A Pony are the only obvious concessions to rest protocols prior to the Luvvies double header.
Seaman-TS-MadMadMata is as good a back three as we can put out given the injury situation.

So, at the least; Chuckles, Ragnar, Cummings,Cully, Matt F, Batman and Haircut will all be due a rest for either one or both of the Luvvies matches. I think Dr will be timing the rest periods so that he has everyone available for Sale and Execeterr. We'll probably see a lot of rotation for the remaining league matches.
You can see his logic....Win today and we can qualify by winning at Sale. Win at home against Execeterr then we should have a home QF. Win that and we have reached the semi final of , probably, the toughest competition in club rugby. Win or lose DR would leave on a high. If he prioritises the league we'll still probably get an away semi, which statistically means a likely defeat. Even if we manage to win and make the final then either (a) we lose and he's not as good as Toonie, or (b) we win and he's just as good as Toonie.
I think DR has made a choice and it's Europe all the way.

I can't see us winning the group unless Exeter slip up in one of their other games and that seems unlikely. They are running up BPs for fun and against s disinterested Sale snd La Rochelle, they wi get more.

Our best bet will likely be best losers and hopefully we can avoid Sarriex this time!

If Exeter beat Sale this weekend and we win then Sale are, realistically, out of contention. Which should make a win away for us much more likely. Exeter travel to Scotstoun in the last group match. Mind you they will probably have 376 bonus points by then, but here's hoping.

Well DR did not exactly say no, when asked about Naka signing!

Come on then Weegies, let’s see a good win here!

Glasgow turning down kicks already and go straight for the corner

Not a good call as we turn it over

And eventually Glasgow maul one over

Good try, they have been playing well so far

Wonder if Huw is thinking longingly of the Cape Town weather right now!

Good forwards try there

Hastings has the same kicking boots on as last week and nails a tricky conversion

7-0 Glasgow

A comical penalty attempt by James into the wind, but played well for them

It hardly made it half way to the posts

La Rochelle score in the corner from a kick under advantage

7-5 Glasgow

This has got to be a 10 point wind, so we need another score before half time

The Frenchies have shown admirable enthusiasm given the conditions.

Definitely wasn't expecting this from La Rochelle!

La Rochelle score again, they have turned up and are playing with no fear or pressure

12-7 La Rochelle

They are chucking it about in this weather and hardly making any errors. its been very impressive

Great kick by Hastings puts us right into the corner with the line out

Glasgow spill the ball and go into HT behind

Lots to do for the second half into this wind

Not the most exhilarating match ever. Mind you they should be wearing waders rather than boots.

Hopefully things will improve.

Pau rescheduled their game due to heavy wind and rain. Why did that not happen to this one??