Glasgow rotate pack for Cardiff Blues meeting

Adam Kyriacou

The third round of the PRO14 season continues on Saturday with four games taking place, including Glasgow Warriors against Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun. 

Scarlets v Zebre

Hooker Taylor Davies will make his first PRO14 start as Scarlets look to continue their unbeaten opening to the new season against Zebre at Parc y Scarlets.

Davies is another home-grown player who has come through the Scarlets’ development system. His previous eight appearances in the competition have been as a replacement.

The 24-year-old is one of three changes to the starting XV that took the field against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun last time out.

Springbok Juandre Kruger, recently signed on a short-term deal, is set for his Scarlets debut and is named in the second-row alongside Lewis Rawlins.

The other switch comes behind the scrum with Ryan Conbeer returning to the side on the right wing.

With Davies named at hooker, Marc Jones drops down to the bench, while Jonathan Evans replaces Dane Blacker as scrum-half cover.

Meanwhile, Zebre will be looking to respond from last week’s home defeat to the Dragons and have moved Charlie Walker to full-back for this trip to Wales.

Walker takes the place of Massimo Cioffi with Paula Balekana coming in on the right wing. The rest of the backline remains unchanged.

Ian Nagle gets the nod to start this weekend and will captain Zebre, forming a second-row partnership with Mick Kearney, with Iacopo Bianchi, Johan Meyer and Giovanni Licata continuing in the back-row.

The teams:

Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Ryan Conbeer, 13 Steff Hughes (c), 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Tom Phillips, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Taylor Davies, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements: 16 Phil Price, 17 Marc Jones, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Josh Helps, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Angus O’Brien, 23 Corey Baldwin

Zebre: 15 Charlie Walker, 14 Paula Balekana, 13 James Elliott, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Pierre Bruno, 10 Michelangelo Biondelli, 9 Joshua Renton, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Iacopo Bianchi, 5 Ian Nagle (c), 4 Mick Kearney, 3 Alexandru Tarus, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Daniele Rimpelli
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 George Biagi, 20 Apisai Tauyavuca, 21 Nicolò Casilio, 22 Leonardo Mantelli, 23 Federico Mori

Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Mike English (Wales), Justin Williams (Wales)
TMO: Charles Samson (Scotland)

Southern Kings v Ulster

Marcell Coetzee is set to make his first start of the season for Ulster against the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.

The 28-year-old back-rower is one of five changes that head coach Dan McFarland has made to the starting XV who were defeated by the Cheetahs last week.

Alan O’Connor is the only other change to the pack. Rob Herring retains the captaincy and will be joined in the front-row by Eric O’Sullivan and Tom O’Toole.

O’Connor is joined in the second-row by Sam Carter, with Matthew Rea and Sean Reidy completing the back-row positions with Coetzee.

Stuart McCloskey linked up with the squad in South Africa this week and returns to partner with Luke Marshall in midfield, while Louis Ludik comes in on the left wing, joining Craig Gilroy on the right and Billy Burns is back in at fly-half. Matt Faddes will start again at full-back and John Cooney is retained at scrum-half.

Angus Curtis could make his first appearance since October 2018 if called upon from the bench. David Shanahan and James Hume are the additional backline options, with Adam McBurney, Kyle McCall, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell and Greg Jones selected as the forward reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Southern Kings head coach Robbi Kempson has handed Josiah Twum-Boafo his first start on the right wing this weekend.

Twum-Boafo came off the bench against Munster last week and is rewarded with his starting bow in what is the only change to the backline.

Tighthead prop Rossouw de Klerk comes in for Pieter Scholtz in the lone tweak up front with JC Astle returning via the replacements bench.

The teams:

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Josiah Twum-Boafo, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Courtney Winnaar, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Tienie Burger, 6 Lusanda Badiyana (c), 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Jerry Sexton, 3 Rossouw de Klerk, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Pieter Scholtz, 19 JC Astle, 20 Bobby de Wee, 21 Josh Allderman, 22 Sibusiso Sithole, 23 Elrigh Louw

Ulster: 15 Matt Faddes, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Louis Ludik, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring (c), 1 Eric O’Sullivan
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Greg Jones, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Angus Curtis, 23 James Hume

Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Kick-off: 16:00 local (15:00 BST, 14:00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies (Wales), Divan Uys (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)

Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Blues

Bruce Flockhart will make his first Glasgow Warriors start in the clash with Cardiff Blues, lining up at blindside flanker in a team showing four changes from last weekend’s defeat to Scarlets.

The 22-year-old from Inverness made four appearances as a replacement last season – his debut campaign as a professional – before coming off the bench against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein a fortnight ago.

Flockhart packs down in a back-row containing club co-captain Callum Gibbins and Matt Fagerson, who recently celebrated his 50th appearance for the club by signing a two-year contract extension.

Head coach Dave Rennie has also elected to make two change to his side’s front-row, with Adam Nicol and Alex Allan coming into the starting XV in place of Oli Kebble and D’arcy Rae respectively.

Grant Stewart continues at hooker, with Rob Harley moving into the second-row to partner Kiran McDonald.

The only alteration behind the scrum comes in midfield, as the returning Nick Grigg lines up outside Stafford McDowall in the centres.

Nick Frisby and Brandon Thomson continue as the half-backs for a third successive match, whilst an unchanged back three sees Ruaridh Jackson start at full-back with Rory Hughes and Kyle Steyn on the wings.

Meanwhile, Lloyd Williams will captain Cardiff Blues as John Mulvihill makes two changes for the PRO14 clash in Scotland.

The scrum-half captains the region at Scotstoun Stadium in the absence of Nick Williams, who drops to the bench.

Will Boyde starts his first competitive game for the Blues in place of number eight Williams, with Kristian Dacey getting the nod ahead of Liam Belcher at hooker.

Head coach Mulvihill was bitterly disappointed with last weekend’s error-strewn defeat to Edinburgh and has called for a reaction from his side, however he is wary of a backlash from Glasgow, who have lost their opening two fixtures.

Mulvihill said: “We let ourselves down last weekend, but we have put that to bed and had a really good week preparing for what will be a formidable test up in Glasgow.

“They have struggled a little bit in the opening weeks of the season, with all the players they are missing, but they boast a huge amount of strength in depth and will be determined to take a step in the right direction on their home patch. We are certainly under no illusions of the quality they possess.

“We just have to make sure we are accurate in everything we do and look to be a bit more clinical in attack.

“This opening period of the season is really important, and you don’t want to be playing catch up.

“Hopefully we will see a much-improved performance this weekend and in turn that will put us in the position to win the game if we take our chances.”

The teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Bruce Flockhart, 5 Kiran McDonald, 4 Rob Harley, 3 Adam Nicol, 2 Grant Stewart, 1 Alex Allan
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 George Thornton, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Jamie Dobie, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Glenn Bryce

Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Aled Summerhill, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams (c), 8 Will Boyde, 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Seb Davies, 3 Dimitri Arhip, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Brad Thyer
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Harri Millard

Venue: Scotstoun
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Assistant referees: (Scotland), Jonny Erskine (Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Ospreys v Benetton Rugby

Ospreys will be desperate to bounce back from last week’s hammering they received at the hands of Leinster when they host Benetton Rugby at Liberty Stadium.

The Welsh region were thumped 53-5 in Dublin and need a response in front of their fans, with Dan Lydiate once again leading from lock.

Matthew Aubrey comes in at scrum-half alongside number 10 Luke Price with the rest of the backline unchanged against the Italian side.

The forward pack remains the same as last Friday as head coach Allen Clarke gives his side a chance to right the wrongs from Dublin.

Meanwhile, Benetton have made one change to their backline as Ignacio Brex replaces Joaquin Riera at outside centre. He joins captain Albert Sgarbi in midfield, with Luca Petrozzi and Ian Keatley the half-back combination.

Cherif Traore and Engjel Makelara come into the front-row at loosehead prop and hooker respectively, while Marco Fuser replaces Eli Snyman at lock for the away game.

The teams:

Ospreys: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Luke Price, 9 Matthew Aubrey, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Sam Cross, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Lloyd Ashley, 4 Dan Lydiate (c), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Rhodri Jones
Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Will Griffiths, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Tom Williams, 23 Hanno Dirksen

Benetton Rugby: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Luca Petrozzi, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Michele Mancini Parri, 2 Engjel Makelara, 1 Cherif Traore
Replacements: 16 Tomas Baravalle, 17 Damiano Borean, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Lodovico Manni, 20 Charly Trussardi, 21 Ian McKinley, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Joaquin Riera

Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Robert O’Sullivan (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)