Wales trio return as Blues look to upset Warriors
CARDIFF Blues include Jarrod Evans in their starting line-up when they face Glasgow Warriors in the Guinness PRO14 clash at the Arms Park on tonight (7.35pm).
The youngster Evans is one of three Wales internationals who begin for the capital city region having been released back by Wales, with Josh Turnbull and Seb Davies packing down up front.
None of the trio have featured in the Six Nations so far.
It will be a chance for them all to give Warren Gatland a nudge, none more so than Evans, who is rarely mentioned as a serious starting option for Wales, but boasts creativity to match any No.10 in the country.
He is the only change in the Blues backline from the one used against Connacht last time out.
Three changes are made in the pack, with Davies and Turnbull replacing George Earle and Shane Lewis-Hughes. Davies links up with Rory Thornton at second-row while Turnbull joins Olly Robinson and Nick Williams in the back row. Rhys Gill is reintroduced at the loosehead, as hooker Kristian Dacey retains the captaincy.
“They’re three of our best players, so we need them starting and playing long periods in this game,” said coach John Mulvihill of his Wales squad trio.
“They’ve had a tough week (with Wales), so we’ll just go over our attack shape and some small things we’ll do in defence a little bit differently to hopefully get a final win over these Glasgow guys.”
They are a really good team with great strength-in-depth. They’ll be missing a few players, but they’ll get four or five international players back, who haven’t played much in the Six Nations, so we expect a pretty red-hot side this weekend.
“We’ve had positive second-halves against them each time, but it’s important that we focus on our start.”
Glasgow have already beaten the Blues three times this season, including a 29-12 win in the Champions Cup at the Arms Park.
Mulvihill admits that his side’s defence that day was not up to its usual standards.
“We were very flat in that game (the home defeat in Europe) even though we won the second half, but teams like that are very difficult to peg back once they get in front.
“It’s an interesting stat that we average 19 points against us per game, against Glasgow it’s 34 points against us on average.”
Glasgow have a gruesome injury list that extends to 14 players, while four of their squad are away with Scotland.
But Zander Fagerson will play his first game in five months, having recovered from a broken leg.
The tight-head prop was injured against the Cheetahs on Glasgow’s trip to South Africa in September and is named to start against Cardiff Blues following five months of rehabilitation. George Turner also returns from injury to start, the hooker hasn’t played since picking up an ankle injury in Glasgow’s home game against Lyon in the Champions Cup in December. Alex Allan completes the front-row. Ali Price and Pete Horne are the half-backs, both having been released to play by Scotland.
Scotland 7s winger Kyle Steyn will make his Warriors debut. The South African-born 25-year-old will join the club permanently next season.
Glasgow Warriors coach Dave Rennie said: “It’s great to have Zander back out there. He was playing some world class rugby before he got injured and has worked hard on his rehabilitation and is excited to be back.
“We’re energised by a short break and can’t wait to get back to action. We’re entering a key period in our season and have a really good side travelling down to Cardiff, where both teams know each other pretty well by now. Our depth is getting tested in a couple of positions but the Scotland players have slotted back in seamlessly and we’ve had a really good week of training.”
M Morgan; O Lane, H Millard, R Lee-Lo, A. Summerhill; J Evans, L Williams; R Gill, K Dacey (capt), D Arhip, S Davies, R Thornton, J Turnbull, N Williams, O Robinson. Reps: L Belcher, R Carre, S Andrews, M Cook, S Lewis-Hughes, D Blacker, D Fish, G Smith.
Cardiff Blues: Glasgow Warriors:
R Jackson; K Steyn, N Grigg, S McDowall, R Hughes; P Horne, A Price; A Allan, G Turner, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, S Cummings, R Harley (capt), A Ashe, T Gordon. Reps: K Bryce, J Bhatti, S Halnukonuka, K McDonalds, T Tamielau, N Frisby, A Hastings, R Nairn.