Halaholo set for 50th appearance at Scotstoun Stadium

Nov 22 • General News, Guinness Pro14 • 1278 Views • Comments Off on Halaholo set for 50th appearance at Scotstoun Stadium

Willis Halaholo returns to the Cardiff Blues starting line-up to make his 50th appearance for the region during Friday’s Guinness PRO14 clash against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium.

The centre is one of four changes made as John Mulvihill’s side return to competitive action, three weeks after they claimed a bonus point win over Zebre at Cardiff Arms Park.

Wales’ Capital Region have been bolstered by the returns of Jarrod Evans and Seb Davies, who have been released from the Wales squad having made an appearance each during the autumn internationals.

Two changes are made in the front row, as Welsh international, Kristian Dacey, returns to the number two jersey, and is joined by youngster Keiron Assiratti, who impressed for Cardiff Blues A and made impact in the scrum during the win over Zebre.

The side is captained by scrum-half, Lloyd Williams, who will make his 180th appearance for the region, edging ever-closer to T Rhys Thomas, who sits third on the Cardiff Blues’ all-time appearance makers with 182.

His brother, Tom Williams, is retained at full back after a try-scoring display against the Italian outfit.

Jason Harries and Josh Turnbull continue to be ever-present in Guinness PRO14 starting line-ups, with Lloyd Williams, George Earle and Olly Robinson having also featured in every fixture to date.

John Mulvihill says will be looking for a strong start in Scotland, and is delighted to welcome internationals Davies and Evans back into the side.

“Both teams play a similar style of rugby, and having some internationals missing won’t necessarily change that.

“Glasgow are the team that have scored the most tries in the PRO14, and they also kick the least. They’ll cause us a lot of threats in defence so we’ll be looking to make sure that we start strong.

“The first 15 minutes let us down against them in the Champions Cup game. They scored twice. After you take that first 15 minutes away, it was pretty even.

“You certainly can’t give a team of that quality a head start. We’ll be focusing on our start.

“Seb is in good form, and they’ve had some good fitness windows over the last couple of weeks.

“Jarrod had his first taste of Test rugby and he’s been in-and-around that group for a month. His fitness is there and he has a good voice within our group.

“We’re looking forward for both of those boys to come back, take the next step in our programme and really lead us in this next block of games.”

Mulvihill has selected a mixture of youth and experience on the bench, with Sion Bennett in-line to make his first Championship appearance of the campaign.

Cardiff Blues: Tom Williams; Aled Summerhill, Garyn Smith, Willis Halaholo, Jason Harries; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams (capt); Brad Thyer, Kristian Dacey, Keiron Assiratti, George Earle, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull, Olly Robinson, Nick Williams

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Rhys Carré, Scott Andrews, James Down, Sion Bennett, Lewis Jones, Steven Shingler, Harri Millard