Warriors geared for 'physical' Leinster
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:43
Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen is looking forward to the first game of the 2010/11 Magners League season - against a very physical Leinster side at Firhill on Friday.
The Warriors moved into their new training centre at Scotstoun Stadium on June 1, and three months later Lineen feels that he and his coaching staff have had more time and resource to apply to the squad's rigorous schedule of pre-season training.
"It's the most satisfying pre-season I've had as a head coach," he said.
"We're training at Scotstoun now so we've been able to do a lot more coaching.
"The pre-season games have been good for us, we've learnt a lot from Dundee right through until Sale and Wasps. There are some areas to improve on but a lot of good stuff as well."
Although the pre-season games provided good opportunities to try new ideas and rotate his squad, Lineen knows that from Friday, the intensity will be completely different as league points are up for grabs.
He continued: "Our game against Sale at Firhill was a good stepping stone but we know it's going to be a massive physical test against Leinster.
"It's always a good battle with Leinster. They've got a lot of youngsters as well but they've also got plenty experience. The back row, which I rate very highly, is their weapon."
With injuries to some key personnel in the Glasgow squad, Lineen has been impressed with the application of some of his younger charges, particularly second row Richie Gray whose task it is to fill the void left by Magners League Dream Team captain Alastair Kellock.
"Richie Gray knows that Al Kellock's out for a while so he's really taking that mantle," said Lineen. "He and Tom Ryder are forming a really good second row combination."
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni (captain), 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Federico Aramburu, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9
Henry Pyrgos, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Tom Ryder, 3 Moray Low, 2 Fergus Thomson, 1 Jon Welsh.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Ryan Grant, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Duncan Weir, 22 Hefin O'Hare, 23 Peter Murchie.
Date: Friday, September 3
Venue: Firhill Stadium, Glasgow
Kick-off: 19.05 (18.05 GMT)
Referee: Tim Hayes (Wales)
Assistant referees: Andy Macpherson (Scotland), Graeme Marshall (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
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