URC, Round 14 - Teams and Predictions
FRIDAY PREVIEW: Ulster will face an uphill task against one of the form teams of the United Rugby Championship in Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on Friday.
Glasgow received a boost with the return of Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown, Simon Berghan, Jack Dempsey, Ali Price, Stafford McDowall and Ollie Smith from the Scottish camp, which will make Dan McFarland’s side’s task a lot tougher this weekend.
Ulster flank Jordie Murphy believes the next couple of weeks will be "season-defining" for the Irish side.
"We are an ambitious side. [League leaders] Leinster to be fair have a fair amount of points on everyone and we have three tough away games in a row. It’s potentially season-defining but we’ll take it game by game.” he said, adding that Glasgow are a "formidable" side at home.
"They are strong at home, so it's a really important game for us so we want to go there and get a result.
"Then we have to try to back that up by going to South Africa to play the Sharks, so there are no easy games in this league."
Meanwhile, Glasgow coach Smith also knows how important this fixture is.
"The players have returned from their time off refreshed and refocused, as we prepare to start the next block of fixtures," said Smith.
"We know how important this next block of fixtures will be for our season, but we are only focused on making sure we present the best version of ourselves on the pitch tomorrow night [Friday].
"We are proud of our home record and we know we will need to be at our best to defend that record against a strong Ulster side."
Friday's other match will see Munster at home against Ospreys.
Munster's squad selection process was boosted with Ben Healy from the Scotland camp while Irish stars Gavin Coombes and Roman Salanoa are back from their national squad and will be available for the Thomond Park clash.
Coombes in particular has been in sensational form and earned a nomination for European player of the year last week and is sure to look to continue that as Munster will look to build on wins in four of their last five games.
According to the stats, Munster are fifth in the league when it comes to defence, and fourth when it comes to tackles made, giving them a firm foundation to launch their attacks.
Ospreys are 12th with only four wins all season and if Munster are to be stopped taking a step towards a top-four spot, the Welsh side will need to find some form very quickly.
See below for Friday's teams and predictions!
Friday, January 17:
Glasgow Warriors v Ulster
(Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Glasgow by five points.
Teams:
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Stafford McDowall (captain), 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Cole Forbes, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Thomas Gordon, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Lewis Bean, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Alex Samuel, 21 Euan Ferrie, 22 Ali Price, 23 Duncan Weir.
Ulster: 15 Ethan McIlroy, 14 Ben Moxham, 13 James Hume, 12 Stewart Moore, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Harry Sheridan, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 2 Tom Stewart, 1 Eric O’Sullivan.
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Andy Warwick, 19 Cormac Izuchukwu, 20 Greg Jones, 21 John Cooney, 22 Luke Marshall, 23 Craig Gilroy.
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Jonny Perriam (Scotland) &: Ru Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)
Munster v Ospreys
(Thomond Park, Limerick – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Munster by 10 points.
Teams:
Munster: 15 Shane Daly 14 Liam Coombes, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Paddy Patterson, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Roman Salanoa, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Josh Wycherley.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Mark Donnelly, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Jack O’Sullivan, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Ethan Coughlan, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Rory Scannell.
Ospreys: 15 Max Nagy, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Michael Collins, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Ethan Roots, 6 Jack Regan, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Elvis Taione, 1 Nicky Smith (captain).
Replacements: 16 Tom Cowan-Dickie, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Rhys Henry, 19 James Fender, 20 Harri Deaves, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 Iestyn Hopkins.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Dan Carson (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)