Glasgow Warriors team to face Zebre

Jan 5 • General News, Guinness Pro14 • 1726 Views • Comments Off on Glasgow Warriors team to face Zebre

Adam Ashe is named in a Glasgow Warriors squad for the first time since October, having recovered from an ankle injury.

The Scotland international has spent 10 weeks out of action after undergoing surgery for an injury he sustained against Leinster in the European Rugby Champions Cup.

The 24-year-old starts among the replacements for the Warriors as they travel to Parma to take on Zebre in the Guinness PRO14, live on BBC ALBA.

In the starting XV, Dave Rennie has named a brand new front-row with Alex Allan and Siua Halanukonuka starting either side of Pat MacArthur.

USA international Greg Peterson joins Jonny Gray in the second-row while behind them, captain for the day Rob Harley starts alongside Chris Fusaro and Matt Fagerson.

George Horne and Finn Russell start together for the first time at nine and ten. Outside of them Nick Grigg shifts to inside centre and is joined by Huw Jones, the pair also starting alongside each other for the first time.

It is an unchanged back-three from the 17-0 victory over Edinburgh, Lee Jones and Niko Matawalu starting either side of Ruaridh Jackson.

Elsewhere, despite having had an achilles injury conservatively managed in recent weeks, Callum Gibbins has had to undergo surgery and faces up to 12 weeks on the sidelines.

Scott Cummings and Zander Fagerson suffered hand and foot injuries in training earlier this week. After seeing specialists at BMI Ross Hall Hospital, neither player requires surgery and both face a recovery period of up to eight weeks.

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie said: “Zebre have been impressive. In attack especially they lead the competition in a number of stats. They carry well, make a lot of line breaks and like to offload.

“They’re a different team at home and have made it really tough for a lot of teams in Parma. We’re going to have to defend really well and build on our ability to maintain pressure and go through the phases which was better last week.

“We’ve been a little bit thin in and around loose forwards so Matt Fagerson coming in last week and Adam coming back in this week is great.”

Glasgow Warriors team to play Zebre in the Guinness PRO14, Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 3.30pm (UK time). You can also follow the action on Twitter @GlasgowWarriors. Glasgow Warriors appearances in brackets:

15. Ruaridh Jackson (128)

14. Lee Jones (67)

13. Huw Jones (3)

12. Nick Grigg (33)

11. Niko Matawalu (86)

10. Finn Russell (74)

9. George Horne (11)

1. Alex Allan (64)

2. Pat MacArthur (164)

3. Siua Halanukonuka (6)

4. Greg Peterson (24)

5. Jonny Gray (81)

6. Rob Harley (172) CAPTAIN

7. Chris Fusaro (131)

8. Matt Fagerson (15)

Replacements:

16. James Malcolm (21)

17. Oli Kebble (3)

18. D’Arcy Rae (34)

19. Kiran McDonald (6)

20. Adam Ashe (47)

21. Henry Pyrgos (136)

22. Peter Horne (129)

23. Brandon Thomson (5)

Unavailable players: Brian Alainu’uise (knee), Fraser Brown (head) Scott Cummings (hand), Alex Dunbar (knee), Zander Fagerson (foot), Callum Gibbins (achillies), Stuart Hogg (hip), Rory Hughes (shoulder), Sam Johnson (jaw), Lelia Masaga (knee), Leo Sarto (shoulder), Tommy Seymour (foot) Tim Swinson (hand) Ratu Tagive (Achilles), George Turner (suspension) and Ryan Wilson (ankle).