The Glasgow Warriors are going “on tour” to Italy as they seek maximum points in search of a Guinness PRO12 semi-final place in defence of their title.
The Warriors yesterday named a squad of 35 who will travel to Italy on Friday for Saturday’s game against Benetton Treviso and then stay in the country for a further week ahead of the rescheduled fixture with Zebre.
The meeting with Zebre was originally to have taken place in January but was moved to allow Glasgow to play their European Rugby Champions Cup fixture with Racing 92, which itself had been postponed from November after the terrorist atrocities in Paris.
With back-to-back fixtures against the Italian clubs who currently fill the bottom two places in the PRO12 the Warriors have taken the decision to find a central training base and stay for a week.
Although currently lying sixth in the PRO12, the Zebre fixture is Glasgow’s game in hand on their rivals and a maximum five points from a four-try win would lift them into one of the play-off places. Maximums from both games in Italy are definitely required if the Warriors, who have won their last five games in the league, are to make a late run for a home semi-final.
Head coach Gregor Townsend has named a squad that includes most of his current Scotland internationalists and two recent prop signings, Kiwi Jarrod Firth and Canadian Djustice Sears-Duru.
Adam Ashe, missing for much of the second half of the season through injury is part of the squad but Chris Fusaro – who picked up a knock last week against Ulster and veteran Mike Blair, who has been suffering from concussion issues, are not included.
Meanwhile European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) have confirmed that BT Murrayfield will host both the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup finals in 2017.
Murrayfield has twice hosted the showpiece Heineken Cup final, the last time in 2009 when Leinster defeated Leicester for the Irish province’s first of three wins in four years.
The final was previously held in Edinburgh in 2005, when Toulouse won an all-French final against Stade Francais 18-12 after extra-time.
Glasgow squad – Backs: Mark Bennett, Glenn Bryce, Alex Dunbar, Grayson Hart, Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne, Lee Jones, Sean Lamont, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Tommy Seymour, Duncan Weir.
Forwards: Adam Ashe, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Simone Favaro, Jarrod Firth, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Tyrone Holmes, Pat MacArthur, James Malcolm, Shalva Mamukashvili, Leone Nakarawa, Greg Peterson, Sila Puafisi, D’arcy Rae, Gordon Reid, Djustice Sears-Duru, Josh Strauss, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson and Jerry Yanuyanutawa.