CHANGE, change and change again looks like being the tale of Glasgow's planned shift from the losers of last week to a side capable of being competitive in Toulouse last week.
Gregor Townsend, the head coach, has been able to alter nine personnel, plus a positional switch, for tomorrow's match and still have most of the Scotland squad to come back for the top European clash in France seven days later.
The challenge for the players he is fielding against the Newport Gwent Dragons tomorrow is to put pressure on the coach not to drop them when two of the the European Champions Cup's unbeaten sides meet in France. None will find it easy, even a comfortable win may not be enough for the majority of this side.
That is despite seven of the returnees arriving straight from international action, while Jon Welsh is back at tighthead prop from long-term injury and Tim Swinson is coming in at lock from a much shorter spell on the sideline that cost him a place in the squad facing New Zealand.
"Our last home game was fantastic for where we are as a club: it was against Treviso and was our biggest gate of the season in the league, even though Treviso don't bring any supporters. If we can get similar numbers this week, it would show a huge appetite for rugby in Glasgow," Townsend said.
"Almost exactly 12 months ago, we lost to the Dragons at home so we know the challenge we face and we have to raise our game from last week to win. It is a huge opportunity for these players, a very strong side so if the players play well they will be in a strong position to start against Toulouse. We all know there are some Scotland players to come back into the mix, plus we have two or three players injured as well. These guys have the jerseys and if they do well will have more chance of playing the following week."
The Dragons, lest it be forgotten, were the side Glasgow beat with a bonus point on their own patch, scoring three of their four tries after having a player sent off. Since then things have only got worse for the Welsh outfit, with injuries piling up, particularly among the experienced heart of the side, so that they are struggling to put together results. Even with half-a-dozen players on Ireland duty, Munster won 38-12 at Rodney Parade last week and the Dragons have been able to make only a couple of changes from that losing side.
So the real competition for Glasgow is within the squad for places in the glamour matches to come. With Sean Maitland expecting to resume training next week after tweaking a hamstring against New Zealand, there are nine players from Scotland's Test squad to come back into the reckoning for starting places in the club side next week - not including Euan Murray, the prop, who will not be available for the Sunday match.
Fortunately for Glasgow, who experienced the downside of experimenting with 18-year-old Zander Fagerson last week when he was literally refereed out of the game, Welsh has timed his return to action perfectly. "He has worked really hard and has earned this starting spot," said Townsend.
"Leading up to last summer he was our starting tighthead, but the shoulder operation was a setback. He has worked really hard to come back and we were delighted when he came on last week and he is ready to start. He did very well for us last year.
"Zander? We have looked very closely at what happened and felt that the position he had put himself in was exactly as we had coached him. The referee was telling him he was not able to hold the scrum up but it takes two people to hold it up and if the other prop is not engaging there is only one way to go. He was doing all the things the referee was stressing. Forget his age, you should judge a player on whether he is scrummaging to the laws — maybe referees have that [his age] in mind, who knows?"
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