GLASGOW WARRIORS will go into their match tonight against last year’s beaten finalists Ulster a man down from the usual matchday 23 because of injuries and Heineken Cup rules.
The Warriors have used all their options for calling up additional players in the competition so cannot include back-up tight-head German Araoz on the bench.
Mike Cusack, Ofa Fainga’anuku and George Hunter have all been injured in previous Heineken games while John Welsh and Ed Kalman have been out since the summer.
“It’s a situation we’ve never experienced before, but, even though German is fit and ready to play, we can’t call on him because we’re out of replacement options for our European squad after so many injuries,” said head coach Gregor Townsend.
Nevertheless, the Warriors are intent on proving how far they’ve advanced in the last month when they head to the hotbed of Ravenhill in Belfast tonight.
Townsend wants to see last year’s beaten finalists put under pressure on their home patch and has picked a strong team looking to continue their recent run of form.
“Ulster are clearly a very fine side. Northampton last time were the first team to beat them at Ravenhill in the last 13 Heineken Cup games but this is the kind of challenge we look forward to, it means we’re testing ourselves against the best sides around,” said Townsend.
“We performed very well in the Heineken Cup last time out against Castres and we’re coming off a good run of wins in the league so there’s a confidence about the squad that their hard work is paying off.
“We know our results in the Heineken Cup haven’t been good enough so we want to show that we’re capable of performing at an elite level.”
The Warriors will have Duncan Weir at fly-half, with Scott Wight as bench cover as Ruaridh Jackson is rested, while Peter Murchie returns to full-back in place of Stuart Hogg, a two-try scorer against Treviso last week.
Glasgow (vs Ulster, Heineken Cup, Ravenhill, tonight, kick-off 8pm, Sky Sports) Peter Murchie; Sean Maitland, Alex Dunbar, Peter Horne, DTH van der Merwe; Duncan Weir, Henry Pyrgos; Ryan Grant, Doug Hall, Moray Low; Tom Ryder, Al Kellock (capt); James Eddie, Robert Harley, Josh Strauss. Reps: Pat MacArthur, Gordon Reid, Nick Campbell, Tim Swinson, Nikola Matawalu, Scott Wight, Stuart Hogg.