Australia international winger Taqele Naiyaravoro will make his Glasgow Warriors debut at Scotstoun Stadium tomorrow in the Guinness PRO12 clash with the Dragons.
The Fijian-born 23-year-old who has been training with Gregor Townsend’s team for the last couple of weeks, goes straight into the Warriors starting XV even as his adopted countrymen prepare to take on a sizeable chunk of his new clubmates at the weekend.
Glasgow have been further boosted by the return of centre Alex Dunbar who narrowly missed out on the World Cup after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in March while training with Scotland.
Following defeat to Munster a fortnight ago, Rory Hughes keeps his place at full-back with Peter Murchie injured and Lee Jones continues on the left wing, with Naiyaravoro coming in to make up the back-three. Dunbar partners the promising Fraser Lyle in midfield, with France-bound Rory Clegg and Grayson Hart the half-backs.
Up front Zander Fagerson comes in for D’arcy Rae at tight-head, with Alex Allan named at loose-head and Pat MacArthur at hooker while Rob Harley and Scott Cummings are once again in the Warriors engine room, with Harley continuing to captain the side.
Following a Vernon-style flirtation with the centre, Hugh Blake moves back to blind-side flanker, with Chris Fusaro and Adam Ashe remaining at open-side and Number 8 respectively meaning two-thirds of the starting team are Scottish-capped players. Not bad for a match during the World Cup.
New signings Greg Peterson (USA) and Simone Favaro (Ita) have been named amongst the replacements and could make their competitive debut for the club. Junior Bulumakau is also on the Warriors bench after scoring two tries for the British Army against the Australian Forces in the 2015 International Defence competition last week.
More than 6,400 tickets for this game have already been sold but a limited number of tickets are still available from glasgowwarriors.org.
Glasgow Warriors team to face the Dragons, Scotstoun Stadium, Friday 16 October (kick-off 7.35pm, not shown on TV):
15. Rory Hughes, 14. Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13. Alex Dunbar,,12. Fraser Lyle, 11. Lee Jones, 10. Rory Clegg, 9. Grayson Hart; 1. Alex Allan, 2. Pat MacArthur, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Rob Harley (Captain), 5. Scott Cummings, 6. Hugh Blake, 7. Chris Fusaro, 8. Adam Ashe
Replacements
16. Fergus Scott, 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18. Mike Cusack, 19. Greg Peterson, 20. Simone Favaro, 21. Mike Blair, 22. Gregor Hunter, 23. Junior Bulumakau
Not available due to injury/illness: Glenn Bryce (ankle), D’arcy Rae (illness) and Peter Murchie (elbow).