Glasgow have today announced that standoff Rory Clegg (who despite being called Rory and red of hair is not Scottish-qualified having 3 England Saxons caps) will rejoin the club from Oyonnax until 2017. Clegg already had a spell at the club in 2015 where he provided cover during the Rugby World Cup and was a pretty good fit for Townsend’s style, scoring 48 points in his 5 appearances there. With Duncan Weir off to Edinburgh and at least one if not both of Russell or Horne likely to be away on Scotland duty regularly over the next few years, it’s a good decision.
He was scheduled to join in the summer for that one year deal but with Russell injured and Horne and Weir both with the Scotland squad, Clegg has come early and is available for immediate selection.
In recent weeks Glasgow have also signed Leonardo Sarto the 24-year-old Italian winger, for two years. Sarto has 26 caps for Italy and scored on his international debut against Scotland in the South African Quadrangular Tournament in June 2013.
Signings aside, here’s the Warriors team to face Leinster at a sold out Scotstoun tomorrow night which has been bolstered by a number of returning internationals although Scott Cummings will be missed by the U20s side.
Glasgow Warriors team to face Leinster on Friday 18 March at Scotstoun Stadium, kick-off 7.35pm, live on Sky Sports 3
15. Peter Murchie (capt), 14. Lee Jones, 13. Mark Bennett, 12. Sam Johnson, 11. Rory Hughes, 10. Rory Clegg, 9. Grayson Hart; 1. Gordon Reid, 2. Fraser Brown, 3. Sila Puafisi, 4. Greg Peterson, 5. Leone Nakarawa, 6. James Eddie, 7. Simone Favaro, 8. Adam Ashe.
Replacements: 16. James Malcolm, 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18. Zander Fagerson, 19. Scott Cummings, 20. Tyrone Holmes, 21. Ali Price, 22. Nick Grigg, 23. Glenn Bryce
Not available due to injury: Alex Allan (concussion), Mike Blair (concussion), Kevin Bryce (shoulder), Chris Fusaro (concussion), Ryan Grant (arm), Gregor Hunter (concussion), Pat MacArthur (glut / hamstring), Fergus Scott (shoulder) and Richie Vernon (shoulder).
You can never have enough Rorys…
17 Responses
From a narrow warriors viewpoint I would dearly have like to have seen the likes of Weir, Pyrgos Bennet and the rest of the internationals available for this one, but when it comes to club v country then the national side rightly gets the nod. That said, and considering that Leinster are themselves missing key players, this is a decent side and I would like to think that we should get the win we need. What a joyful weekend it would be if we could do an Irish double, and so close to Paddies day. Good to see RC back he is a decent player, I would be interested to know what wasn’t right at Oyannax, anyone heard anything?
My two cents: Would change Ali Price for Grayson Hart, and not a big Murchie fan.
You couldn’t make it up…….yes it’s true the referee is George Clancy.
The allocation of referees to Pro 12 games has to be sorted as a matter of priority. This is laughable. Is Mitrea on International duty? Not that I think he’s great, but he is at least neutral. I cannot believe a neutral referee cannot be found.
In my perfect world, all referees would be neutral and it should not matter if the ref happens to be a countryman of one of the sides playing. In fact, I am not in any way suspicious that there is any biased refereeing going on (based on nationality. I do believe that refs have a pre-conceived leaning about teams abilities in certain areas which influences their 50:50 decisions). However, whenever there are debatable decisions made then it becomes suspicious, in the eyes of the side being penalised, if the ref happens to be from the country of the side winning the decision. Considering availability of refs, and the coachload of other circumstances, surrounding the pro 12, it is difficult to see a solution, especially in the short term. Bottom line is that the clubs need to work to make sure their teams play in such a manner that refs do not have to make 50:50s therefor eliminating any doubt. Not easy, I know.
I will answer my own question – NO. The only neutral guys who are unavailable are Nigel Owens and Leighton Hodges.
Good to see Adam Ashe and Tyrone Holmes back to the side. Glasgow shaping up well for the remainder of the season.
I actually think this game is less key than it appears. Glasgow are 8pts behind Ulster in 4th with two games in hand. so long as we beat Ulster next week and win the other game in hand against Zebre we can close that gap. Lose to Ulster next week and any result against Leinster is probably going to be moot anyway.
FF, remember we have away games against, Scarlets and Connacht, so winning our home games are crucial, especially against teams who sit above us at the moment. If we win all but one remaining fixtures we could plausibly gain a home semi, anything less will put us in a bun fight, not only to make the play offs but to get a crucial top six slot for champions cup next year.
Cracking result tonight – same against Ulster next week and Glasgow will be within touching distance of a play off place.
Well, Glasgow dug deep tonight. Credit to them. The pitch at Scotstoun has to change. Very difficult to play the sort of style of rugby we have come to associate with Glasgow on that surface.
Now for Ulster, more of the same resilience please.
Great result , Leinster looked to have the edge early doors but Glasgow were fitter and great in defence. They adapted better to the conditions , well to be specific the pitch. I know Leone was just amazing, as usual, however for me , it was a true team effort.
Now for credits to those less visable , clancy who must have had to deal with nutrality in a compromised postion and IMO was fair, and the groundsmen at Scotstoun, the pitch was much improved. I do not envy their job this week. Lets hope it does not rain.
Controversially, I didn’t think Nakarawa was better than anyone else. He was solid but he did make a few mistakes (turnovers, failing to pass, etc) but I suppose that’s the high risk game you have to accept from him. Every player put in a fantastic shift and I was pleased to see this level of guts considering how flakey Warriors have been this season when missing the big guns. Every game I see of Cummings and Price I am impressed, which bodes well for the future. Ashe carried and tackled well too.
In the bag. Grit, determination and digging out a win when not playing at our best and with so many forced changes. That’s what makes championship winning teams.
Against Ulster we should have some of our internationals available : Finn (In the clubhouse before last nights game he said that he should be ok for next week), Pyrgos, if he doesn’t play more than 30 mins or so, similar with Strauss/Wilson, Lamont, Horne and so on. Another big game and the defence is looking like its back on track.
Lets hope we can reinforce the good feeling with a win today.
It should be an interesting game on Friday. Then Ulster forwards have a dogged determination and a hard headed physicality which has seen them dominate the forward exchanges in the last few games against Glasgow. Let’s hope there is a bit of a Scottish backlash to the game in Dublin last week. Both teams should be stronger with some returning internationals.
A Glasgow win is needed to put them back in serious contention. 5 points might be too much to hope for in a tight game, but 4 points while depriving Ulster of a bonus point would be great.
I’m looking forward to the battle at centre between Bennet\Dunbar v Payne\McCosker (assuming they’re chosen of course).
Another subject. What has happened to Taquele Naiyaravoro? Not in the team recently and not listed as one of the injured on the Warriors website.
Can’t see Dunbar/Hogg/Seymour starting as it will be two consecutive 6 day turnarounds for guys that played a lot of 6N rugby but Wilson, Strauss, Swinson, Horne, Pyrgos, Weir and Lamont should be OK to go and will boost the starting lineup and bench significantly.
Also seen that Jonny has been passed fit as well today. A huge boost for Glasgow.
Seen some non-official sources reporting Russell as fit also.