Lloyd leads as Mulvihill calls for Blues reaction
LLOYD Williams will captain Cardiff Blues as John Mulvihill makes two changes for the Guinness PRO14 clash against Glasgow Warriors tonight (7.35pm).
The scrum-half is in charge for the trip to Scotstoun Stadium instead of Nick Williams, who drops to the bench.
Will Boyde starts his first competitive game for the Blues in the place of No.8 Williams, with Kristian Dacey getting the nod ahead of Liam Belcher at hooker.
Head coach Mulvihill was bitterly disappointed with last weekend’s errorstrewn 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 muchimproved performance this weekend and in turn that will put us in the position to win the game if we take our chances.”
Glasgow, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from last week’s defeat to Scarlets, and have called in Bruce Flockhart for his first Warriors start.
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 changes to his side’s front row, with Adam Nicol and Alex Allan coming in.
The only alteration behind the scrum comes in midfield, as the returning Nick Grigg lines up outside Stafford McDowall in the centres.
Cardiff Blues last triumphed over Glasgow on their home patch in 2013, and will be looking to claim a second successive victory on the road with away form a focus this season. Glasgow Warriors: R Jackson; K Steyn, N Grigg, S McDowall, R Hughes; B Thomson, N Frisby; A Allan, G Stewart, A Nicol, R Harley, K McDonald, B Flockhart, C Gibbons (c), M Fagerson. Reps: J Matthews, G Thomson, D Rae, T Swinson, C Fusaro, J Dobie, H Jones, G Bryce.
Cardiff Blues: M Morgan; O Lane, G Smith, W Halaholo, A Summerhill, J Evans, L Williams (c); B Thyer, K Dacey, D Arhip, S Davies, R Thornton, J Turnbull, O Robinson, W Boyde. Reps: L Belcher, C Domachowski, S Andrews, S Lewis-Hughes, N Williams, L Jones, J Tovey, H Millard.
Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland).