EVEN though the big revenge mission against Connacht is only a week away, Glasgow Warriors are keeping a number of their top players under wraps in their final pre-season friendly, away in Gloucester.
Which is not to say there won't be clashes that will attract the interest of both Vern Cotter, the current Scotland coach, and Gregor Townsend, the current Glasgow coach who will replace him.
Top of that list is undoubtedly the direct head-to-head between Henry Pyrgos and Greig Laidlaw as both scrum halves and captains of their teams. If Pyrgos to add the goalkicking duties – as he did when leading Scotland against Japan in the summer – that would make it a clean sweep of matched responsibilities between the two.
The history of that Japan Test adds an extra level of rivalry to the confrontation. Pyrgos started the game but the team struggled badly in the heat and humidity and were losing when he was replaced by Laidlaw who kicked four penalties to pull Scotland in front and win the game.
The idea that the turnaround was brought on by something as simple as changing the scrum half and captain is ridiculous, but still helps to make the clash between the two Scotland players even more relevant.
There will be almost as much at stake at centre where Alex Dunbar and Matt Scott – who will be making his home debut for Gloucester – will also be directly opposite each other in the outside centre channel. Scott did not have a particularly happy summer tour and knows his place is in jeopardy. Dunbar, who was injured in June, is one of his main rivals.
On the whole, though, Townsend lets his senior players sit the game out. Mark Bennett is rested after winning a silver medal in the Olympics. Jonnie Gray, Tommy Seymour and Stuart Hogg are among those given more time off.
Despite that he has been able to pick a stronger side than lost narrowly to Harlequins last week, with the other key confrontation being the return of Sila Puafisi to take on the club that brought him over to the UK.
“It’s always a pleasure to see my friends and former team-mates from Gloucester, and it’s going to be good to play against them," he said. “It’ll be a really tough game. Kingsholm is always a tough place to go to and Gloucester are a very good team. They have really good supporters, especially in the famous Shed, so it’ll be a good atmosphere.”
Glasgow Warriors: R Hughes; L Sarto, A Dunbar, S Johnson, S Lamont; P Horne, H Pyrgos (C); G Reid, C Flynn, Z Fagerson, G Peterson, S Cummings, R Harley, F Brown, R Wilson. Replacements: P MacArthur, R Grant, D Rae, S Puafisi, T Swinson, T Uanivi, S Favaro, L Wynne, A Price, G Hart, R Clegg, R Vernon, F Lyle.
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