Glasgow Warriors may have lost key players to the Scotland squad, but the return of a string of others from injury has heavily compensated ahead of tonight’s meeting with Connacht.
Of the team that started last week’s win at the Cardiff Blues half-backs Pete Horne and Ali Price, centre Nick Grigg and front-row forwards Zander Fagerson and George Turner are all on Scotland duty this weekend. However, internationalists George Horne, Niko Matawalu, Chris Fusaro, who takes on the captaincy and Matt Fagerson, who starts on the bench, as well as front-row forwards Grant Stewart and Oli Kebble have all got over a combination of ailments to reclaim starting places, while Stafford McDowall has recovered from the ankle injury that left him in a surgical boot earlier in the week.
“You win some you lose some at this time of year,” said head coach Dave Rennie.
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“It’s nice to get Matt Fagerson back and to get Niko back on to the pitch and Oli returning from illness. I’m not sure how many we’re missing, it’s a fair few, but we’ve got a good team on the park.”
While Glasgow’s squad boasts an embarrassment of riches in the midfield the centre partnership is, unusually, the least experienced unit with 20-year-old McDowall the senior man in terms of appearances, having played nine games for Warriors, three times as many as Paddy Kelly, who has made a solitary appearance as a replacement in each of the past three seasons for a total of 26 minutes playing time.
The pair have, however, previously formed a partnership at Ayr and Rennie is pleased to be able to give the 23-year-old this chance.
“They’ve played a lot of footy together and Paddy has been with us the last year and a half, trained a lot,” said the coach.
“We’ve also got a fair bit of depth in midfield so his opportunities have been limited, but he’s a good player. He’s been one of the best players in club footy this year, got a really good skill set. We think the combination of him and Stafford playing together will help him transition as well.
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