KO 3.00 at Stadio Communale di Monigo
Saturday 2nd March 2024
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

  • The Benetton line-up includes 19 full internationals with a combined 256 caps – that’s compared to 10 players with 105 caps on the Warriors’ side.
  • Across the two clubs, there are 37 players listed as unavailable for this fixture – 18 injured and 19 on international duty.
  • Since the start of the 2022/23 season, Benetton have won 16, drawn 1 and lost just 3 of their games at the Stadio Communale di Monigo.
  • Glasgow have only won 1 of their last 5 trips to Treviso – back in January 2020 when a Horne brothers hat-trick (2 for George and 1 for Pete) helped their side to a 38 – 19 victory. Defeats have been narrow (3 points in 2019, 1 point in 2021) and errr…not so narrow (27 points in 2021 in the Rainbow Cup, 22 points in 2022).
  • While he has scored 8 tries in 4 appearances against the other Italian side, Zebre, Johnny Mattthews only has a solitary 5-pointer in 6 outings versus Benetton.
  • Weegentinian wing twins, Sebastian Cancelliere and Facundo Cordero, are the Warriors to Watch.

Teams:

Scotland Rugby News:

(players in CAPITALS are full capped internationals, numbers in brackets are previous appearances for Benetton / Glasgow)

Head to Head:

Scotland Rugby News:

Glasgow Greetings:

Allan Dell returns to the lineup for the first time since 18th November, with that previous game also being against Benetton. On the wing, Sebastian Cancelliere’s recovery from his injury travails not only puts the club's most lethal finisher (well, at least the most lethal finisher not playing hooker and named Johnny Matthews...) back in his favoured number 14 shirt. It also frees up Jamie Dobie to slot back into his usual scrum half berth which should strengthen the team in two positions rather than just one.

Matchday Milestones:

Three players will mark their 50th appearance in the URC (PRO14/PRO12 etc.) and all three have made their way to this point by very different routes.

Jamie Dobie debuted in the comp as an 18 year old, pretty much straight out of school, and will bring up his half century at the age of just 22.

Allan Dell’s first game in what was then the PRO12 came not far off a decade ago in October 2014. It has taken the loosehead well into his second season with Glasgow to add the 7 games he needed to reach this landmark, aged 31 (he will be 32 in a couple of weeks).

Johnny Matthews hasn’t exactly taken a traditional route to top level rugby. He didn’t make his pro debut until he was 26. Even then it was another couple of seasons before he became an essential part of the Warriors’ hooker rotation. His status now is near indispensable and this will be his 25th consecutive URC fixture without missing one.

Warrior to Watch:

The Weegentinian wing twins will probably give a pretty solid health check as to how the game is going for Glasgow. If both Sebastian Cancelliere and Facundo Cordero are heavily involved that will be an extremely good sign. It will most likely mean the forwards are putting in a good shift up front, the ruck ball is quick and there are going to be chances for a Warriors’ backline that can score from pretty much anywhere.

Cordero bagged a try on debut last week – something that only two other players have managed in front of the home fans at Scotstoun (Simone Favaro v Dragons in 2015 and Mesu Dolokoto with a remarkable try double against Zebre in 2020).

It took Cancelliere until his 7th appearance for Glasgow to break his duck but he has been prolific ever since. This is a function not just of being an elite level finisher but also one of the most consistently dangerous runners in the league, always ranking highly for metres made and defenders beaten and able to create his own chances from even the least promising situations.

Current form:

Scotland Rugby News:

Glasgow away to Benetton in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:

  • 7 wins
  • 3 losses
  • 5 Try BPs
  • 2 Losing BPs
  • 35 points out of a possible 50 (70%)
  • The Warriors also lost their Rainbow Cup encounter away to Benetton in 2021.

Previous league match-up v Benetton in Italy:

Officials:

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 13th league game)
AR1: Filippo Russo (FIR)
AR2: Alex Frasson (FIR)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

Mr Cross’s regular season record for 2022/23:

  • Matches – 10
  • Average penalty count – 20.8 per game
  • Home side penalties conceded percentage – 48.0%
  • Average card count – 0.3 per game
  • Penalties per card – 69.3

A Warriors’ newbie for this one, as Mr Cross takes charge of a Glasgow game for the first time. He has already refereed Benetton once this season – against Perpignan where the Italian side won the penalty count 10 – 13 but had Sebastian Negri sent off after 2 yellows.

The Irish whistler’s card stats have moved up towards more normal levels during the current campaign – 1.0 cards per game and 20.7 penalties per card – so the unusually low rates of 2022/23 look like a new ref just finding his feet and not being confident enough to dish out the strongest sanctions.

Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=3