Planet Rugby

Preview: Glasgow v Castres

05th December 2012 12:29

Sean Maitland

Sean Maitland: Set for Glasgow debut

Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend has made three changes to his side as they prepare to face Castres in the Heineken Cup on Friday.

Tommy Seymour - the Warriors' joint top scorer - returns on the wing, while Scott Wight takes back the number 10 berth with Henry Pyrgos as his half-back partner.

Stuart Hogg again forms Glasgow's centre partnership with Peter Horne.

Josh Strauss comes back into the back-row alongside Rob Harley and John Barclay at blindside and openside flanker respectively. The return of the South African sees Ryan Wilson move to the bench.

Mike Cusack, who this week extended his stay at Glasgow Warriors until at least May 2016, once again takes up the tighthead role, continuing his run of appearances this season.

Sean Maitland, who has joined the Warriors from the Crusaders, is in line to make his Warriors debut off the bench.

"We're keeping faith with the core group of players who were beaten by Munster as we know that that level of performance was not a true reflection of that side," said Townsend.

"I expect see a reaction and a determination from those players to prove that they deserve their place.

"We are coming off the back of what was a disappointing performance against Munster last week, particularly as we believed we were capable of leaving Thomond Park with a win.

"We pride ourselves on being tough to beat and we didn't do that in Ireland. There has been a renewed determination this week as that was a difficult defeat to take."

The teams:

Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Stuart Hogg, 12 Peter Horne, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Scott Wight, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 John Barclay, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Al Kellock (c), 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Mike Cusack, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Pat Macarthur, 17 Moray Low, 18 Gordon Reid, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Niko Matawalu, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Sean Maitland.

Castres: 15 Romain Martial, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Seremaia Bai, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Maxwell Evans, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Jannie Bornman, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Christophe Samson, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Mihaïta Lazar, 18 Anton Peikrishvili, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Yannick Caballero, 21 Thomas Sanchou, 22 Paul Bonnefond, 23 Daniel Kirkpatrick.

Date: Friday, 7 December
Venue: Scotstoun Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Martin Fox (England), Paul Dix (England)

Comments

carpelone says...

Glasgow, just. 4 - 1

Posted 15:39 07th December 2012

5Lock4ward says...

@atg77, DTH is the second Canadian (South African by birth) winger on Glasgow along with the youngster Taylor Paris. I think of him as a fairly solid performer but could not agree more with your thought that with only 2 professional franchises the Scots need to save their seats for Scottish chaps first.

Posted 01:50 07th December 2012

atg77 says...

To add to my previous comment... this DTH character needs to step aside... Scottish rugby can no longer afford to bankroll non Scotland qualified players. Maitland should knock him out of the starting 15 at a canter.

Posted 12:12 06th December 2012

atg77 says...

@5lock... well if he replicates his super 12 form he will, but he still has to prove he can do it. Maitland will most likely start for Glasgow the following week and a Scotland jersey will hopefully be not too far off from that.

Posted 12:10 06th December 2012

5Lock4ward says...

Stop the charade w/ Maitland under the guise of making him earn his starting spot. He walks into your first xv Glasgow. He walks into Scotland's first xv. Let's not be foolish.

Posted 21:49 05th December 2012

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