Huwipulotu

19:45 Friday 9th October, Scotstoun Stadium

Time to bounce back. It’s Connacht at Scotstoun in round 3. Glasgow have made a lot more changes for tonight. Hopefully we will see a better performance tonight.

Changes

McBeth starts, having been impressive off the bench in the first two rounds. It’s a straight swap with Schickerling, who moves to the bench. The rest of the starting and bench front row is unchanged. Cummings has swapped with Brown; Williamson remains alongside him. Ally Miller is on the bench tonight, switching places with Macenzzie Duncan, who starts at 8, with Fagerson moving to 6. Darge is back starting again, and Gus Fraser misses out with big Jare coming in onto the bench.

In the backs, Dobie moves to scrum half and a first appearance of the season for Fergus Watson. Good to see the young winger getting a chance; hopefully he’s as good as he was on his debut last season when he won player of the match against Benetton. Stafford McDowall drops out this week, most likely due to his concussion following a failed HIA last week. So Ollie Smith returns at 13 alongside Sione. The rest of the backline is unchanged. I feel sorry for Callum Reidy, who has been on the bench for the last two games but never came on and is now not in the 23. Instead, George Horne is on the bench tonight, ready to bring his usual energy in the final quarter, and Bayley Kuenzle is once again wearing 23; I’ve been really impressed by him so far.

Franco goes with stronger starters

In the first two games so far this season, Franco has kept arguably some of his stronger forwards on the bench, such as Cummings, Darge, Duncan and McBeth. But tonight, with those 4 all starting, we should expect Glasgow to have a stronger first half, having been down at half-time in both games so far. The previous plan backfired a little last week, with Sam Talakai and Darge, who were fresh off the bench, going off with yellows, halting Glasgow’s second-half dominance. This should balance out the set piece too, with the starting props hopefully being able to get on top.

Connacht go full noise

After a great result away against Benetton, bouncing back from their opening round defeat to the Stormers, Connacht have gone full noise tonight. Their backline especially looks very strong. Dual playmakers in Frawley and Ioane, with a dangerous pairing of Forde and Aki in the midfield. Hansen and Bolton are probably their strongest winger combination too. There might be too many playmakers, but we will see. Hansen is often used at first receiver; Ioane, Forde and Frawley can all play 10. It was Connacht’s backline that helped them over the line against Benetton, but their forwards are strong too. Prendergast at six is their talisman ball carrier, and Sean Jansen is a good number eight too. Bealham on the bench may be a worry for Glasgow in the set piece late in the game, but hopefully it doesn’t have too big an impact.

Now that teams are getting into their rhythms, it’s fair to say that this will be the hardest game for Glasgow so far this season. It’s the first side at their full strength and a side coming into the game off of a good result. Glasgow will need to keep 15 on the field for the full 80 and be at their most clinical if they want a result tonight. A stronger Glasgow team beat a weaker Connacht team 33-21 in the URC quarter-final at Scotstoun in May. It will require a similar performance to get over the line tonight.

Prediction

I rarely predict Glasgow will lose, and tonight is no different. Despite Connacht bringing a very strong side, I still think Glasgow should have enough to see them over the line. Being at home is a difference-maker, and I’m sure the Warriors fans will be as loud as ever. The stronger starting team should help Glasgow make a good start and stay ahead for the remainder. I’m going to predict 33-31 to Glasgow.