Townsend sounding the Horne
Centre backed to star
GrEgor Townsend has backed Peter horne to be the centre of attention in glasgow’s Pro12 match against Connacht today.
The Warriors head coach has tactical plans involving the Scotland international and his fellow centre Alex dunbar, designed to lay the foundations for a win in galway as the visitors aim to secure a home tie in the play-off semi-final.
The fall-guy of his strategy is Mark bennett, who drops to the bench to make way for horne, making his return to first-team action after four weeks following a concussion sustained against Zebre.
Townsend said he thought long and hard before dropping bennett, revealing that picking this match squad had been ‘the toughest selection our coaching group has had to make this season.’
however, he felt the centre partnership of horne and dunbar was the perfect combination to get the better of their Connacht opposite numbers bundee Aki and robbie henshaw.
‘There are a couple of things tactically we might want to do in the centre that i can’t tell you about, with Peter playing at 12 and Alex at 13,’ said Townsend. ‘We know, having Mark bennett on the bench, we’ve got someone there who can come on and do really well in a different way to Peter.
‘Peter has played really well for us in the past and i have no problems bringing him back and putting him straight into the team after his injury. i feel we have a very good centre combination to go up against Aki and henshaw, who are very strong performers.
‘Connacht move the ball more than any team in the competition because they have a superb set of backs. because of that, we have to prepare to go up against a very good team who are playing really well, especially at home, who will try to attack us.’
As well as the decision to bring horne back into the side, Townsend has made some other surprising selection calls.
The Scotstoun boss has such faith in horne to cover for Finn russell, should the Scotland stand-off suffer an injury, that he has left international no 10 duncan Weir out of his squad completely. Also missing is Australian international winger Taqele naiyaravoro.
The only important glasgow player unavailable through injury is scrum-half henry Pyrgos, who has a neck strain, with Ali Price taking his place in the starting line-up and grayson hart on the bench.
‘Peter’s main role for us against Connacht is with Alex in the centre, but he has played for Scotland at 10 this year and can fill in if needed,’ said Townsend.
‘Peter being able to play in both positions allows us to have different options in the outside backs from the start of the match.
‘Taqele missing out shows the level of competition we have. he played last week in the win over Zebre and will feature again later on in the play-offs, i am sure.’
both sides have had different fortunes going into the match. glasgow are on a nine-match unbeaten run, while Connacht have lost three of their last four games in all competitions, albeit those have all have been away from home.
Since the play-offs were introduced at the end of the 2009/2010 season, not a single visiting side has won an away semi-final — which is why Townsend is desperate to win in galway and gain home advantage at the knock-out stages.
‘Connacht have only lost once at home in the league this season, so recent losses away don’t matter much,’ said Townsend. ‘Whoever we play in the semi is going to be a very good team but we would have an advantage in getting a home semi-final.
‘Also, the bonus of finishing top of the Pro12 table would be great after the efforts of the players and would give us a boost going into the play-offs.’