Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

ARTICLE BY ROD NAWN FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND SPORTS ENTHUSIAST @RODNAWN1

to be realistic and if we came away from those three matches with two wins we’d be in contention,” he said. He’ll have re-assessed that now! A win tonight would really be a platform from which the critical later phase of the season comes around. Of course there is always a certain unpredictability when international calls have a real impact on the respective selections. Townsend will be without the likes of Stuart Hogg, Mark Bennett, Tommy Seymour and Finn Russell, for instance, this weekend! And Joe Schmidt will have signalled which of his Ulster contingent he wants to have some game time. Last week against the Dragons, Rob Herring’s availability was a bonus, and Stuart McCloskey and Paddy Jackson were confined to cameos, albeit rather important ones given the tension-packed finale to the defeat of the Dragons! McCloskey should play a bigger role this evening. Supporters of Ulster will want a rather less agonising 80 minutes, and a performance of a more convincing nature, but these are the periods when – squads reduced – that coaches have to be at their shrewdest and flexible, and there can be understandable new playing relationships to be established in the absence of more regular combinations. Townsend is an innovative coach – as he was a player – but he might feel he is more ‘wounded’ by a diluted panel this evening and therefore a more defensively-minded Warriors may take to the field. That could make life difficult for Ulster three-quarters who like to run with ball-in-hand into space, for it is that which Glasgow will hope to ensure is not left unattended, and the visitors can still pitch up at Kingspan Stadium with a pack not easily dominated and one which will want to see Ulster’s eight expend a lot of energy in the set-piece and in the ruck and maul. But in all the circumstances Ulster versus Glasgow is a game to savour, more than a mere aperitif to the international in Paris. For the players in the respective panels this is the only game in town! It may stun us all and be a thoroughly enjoyable try-fest. But one suspects a win, and four valuable points, would be accepted by both sides, with Ulster perhaps the more likely to stage a celebration this evening – if not as extravagant as its opponents in the spring!

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