Preview: Biarritz v Glasgow
January 22 2010
Glasgow have made nine changes to the team that defeated the Dragons for their final Pool match, against Biarritz on Sunday.
Among the starting XV named, all but two were included in Scotland Six Nations squad to train in St Andrews next week.
Five of the nine changes are made in the pack as Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Alastair Kellock and John Barclay all return for their final club match before the international action. They replace Fergus Thomson, Ed Kalman, Dan Turner and Calum Forrester respectively.
Soon-to-be Saracen Kelly Brown reverts to blindside flanker due to the return of Barclay.
"The players enjoy going over to France. We ran Biarritz close at Firhill and now have the opportunity to make amends," said Warriors Head Coach Sean Lineen in looking ahead to the match.
"Training has been going well this week. Biarritz are an incredibly hard team to beat. They have some quality players so we need to make sure our discipline is good and we deal with their kicking game."
In the backs, Graeme Morrison returns to the centre where he partners Max Evans. As a result, Rob Dewey is moved to the right wing where he takes over from DTH van der Merwe as the Canadian international is ruled out due to a calf injury.
The half-backs are also changed as Scotland captain Chris Cusiter and in-form Dan Parks are both in ahead of Colin Gregor and Ruaridh Jackson.
Reminiscing about the last time his side travelled to the French coast, Lineen said: "Had our last encounter in Biarritz two seasons ago lasted just 74 minutes, we would've won. This time, make no mistake, we're going across there to get a result."
Meanwhile, Biarritz have left England international Ayoola Erinle and rugby league import Karmichael Hunt on the bench as Arnaud Mignardi and Laurent Tranier make up the Basque midfield.
Injured trio of Damien Traille, Dimitir Yachvili and Fabien Barcella will be sorely missed but French internationals Imanol Harinordoquy and Jérôme Thion start in the back and second rows respectively.
The teams:
Biarritz: 15 Paul Couet-Lannes, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Laurent Tranier, 11 Ilikena Bolakoro, 10 Valentin Courrent, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Trevor Hall, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Mosese Moala, 2 Benoit August, 1 Eduard Coetzee.
Replacements:16 Romain Terrain, 17 Rémy Hugues, 18 Campbell Johnstone, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Fabien Alexandre, 21 Karmichael Hunt, 22 Ayoola Erinle, 23 Iain Balshaw.
Glasgow: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Rob Dewey, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Jon Welsh.
Replacements: tbc
Date: Sunday, January 24
Kick-off: 13:45 (12:45 GMT)
Venue: Parc des Sports Aguilera