Preview: Dragons v Glasgow
Dragons Head Coach Paul Turner has named Colin Charvis in the team to face Glasgow Warriors for the Heineken Cup opener at Rodney Parade on Saturday.
Dragons Head Coach Paul Turner has named Colin Charvis in the team to face Glasgow Warriors for the Heineken Cup opener at Rodney Parade on Saturday.
Colin will make his first starting appearance for the Dragons after taking up a role as contact and defence skills coach for the region this season.
The 35-year-old flanker received the Man of the Match award after replacing Dan Lydiate in the 53rd minute of the EDF Energy Cup victory over Newcastle Falcons last weekend at Rodney Parade.
Paul Turner is looking forward to Colin's influence on the pitch again this weekend.
“It's great to see Colin back in the starting fifteen where his leadership qualities will add another dimension to our performance levels,” said Paul.
“The impact that Colin had on last week's game was evident for all to see and we'll be looking for more of the same this week in the Heineken Cup.”
Meanwhile, Glasgow centre Graeme Morrison will make his 100th appearance for the club when he steps out on the field, one week before he celebrates his birthday at Firhill when Toulouse come to town.
Looking ahead to an exciting week ahead both on and off the field, the Hong Kong-born centre – who will celebrate his 26th birthday at the Warriors' first home game of the 2008/09 Heineken Cup campaign against Toulouse – reflected on the honour.
“It's a massive honour to reach 100 games for Glasgow in what is my sixth season with the club. However, when your birthday lands on such an important match then it pretty much gets shelved until another time – let's hope the result will give us all reason to celebrate.”
The Warriors have already faced the Dragons in the Magners League this season posting a very close 12-6 victory in torrential rain.
However, despite the Warriors having the upper hand in terms of results, Coach Sean Lineen believes this game will be an entirely different affair.
“I think it'll be a pretty brutal game. We know each other pretty well and managed to sneak a win the last time we were down when Dan had his kicking boots on in pretty atrocious conditions,” he said.
“However, that game will bear no resemblance to this one with all the hype and pressure that's on both sides. There's so much at stake.
“We had a good run in the Heineken Cup last season so it's up to the players to show themselves and each other that they're hungry to make further progress.”
Dragons: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Gareth Wyatt, 13 Rory Sidey, 12 Marc Stcherbina, 11 Richard Fussell, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 Colin Charvis, 6 Joe Bearman, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Tom Willis (capt), 1 Adam Black.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Aaron Coundley, 18 Grant Webb, 19 Andrew Hall, 20 Rob Lewis, 21 Shaun Connor, 22 Ashley Smith,
Glasgow: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Hefin O'Hare, 10 Colin Gregor, 9 Mark McMillan, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (c), 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements: 16 Ed Kalman, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Tim Barker, 19 Stevie Swindall, 20 Andrew Henderson, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Richie Vernon.
Date: Saturday, October 11
Venue: Rodney Parade
Kick-off: 14.30 (13.30 GMT)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Touch judges: Cédric Marchat (France), Eric Soulan (France)
Assessor: Paul Bridgman (England)