Blues seek revenge without star duo
The Cardiff Blues will be looking to avenge last season’s heavy defeat to the Warriors when they welcome the Glasgow side to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, but will have to do so without Jamie Roberts,Ben Blair and Xavier Rush.
The blues were forced into a couple late changes to their match day 22 as Blair and Richie Rees were both withdrawn from the squad, both suffering with their hamstrings.
However, both players will be available for the Harlequins match. Leigh Halfpenny moves from the bench to play at fullback, while Darren Allinson replaces Richie Rees on the bench at scrumhalf. Chris Czekaj moves onto the bench in place of Halfpenny.
Glasgow Warriors too have finally confirmed their team for Saturday Welsh/Scottish calsh.
Last week’s try-scoring debutant Dave McCall retains his place in the centre alongside Graeme Morrison as the back division stays intact.
In the pack, the only change sees Scotland ‘A’ flank Richie Vernon come in for Kelly Brown at blindside.
On Vernon’s inclusion, Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: “Kelly is still suffering from some flu-like symptoms so the decision has been to promote Richie to the starting line-up.
“Richie came on and did very well last week so he’ll have no trouble slotting straight into the side.”
Teams:
Cardiff: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Gareth Thomas, 10 Sam Norton-Knight, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Gary Powell, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 John Yapp
Replacements: 16 Darren Morris, 17 Rhys Williams, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Scott Morgan, 20 Darren Allinson, 21 Ceri Sweeney, 22 Chris Caekaj
Glasgow: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Rob Dewey, 13 Dave McCall, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Richie Vernon, 5 Alastair Kellock (captain), 4 Tim Barker, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Jon Welsh.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Dan Turner, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Colin Gregor, 21 Hefin O’Hare, 22 DTH van der Merwe.
Date: Saturday, October 3
Venue: City of Cardiff Stadium
Kick-off: 18.30 (17.30 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy.
Assistant Referees: David Bodilly, Phil Harrhy.
TMO: Gareth Simmonds.
