A TEAM that cannot win anywhere against one that can’t win on the road. Something has got to give when Zebre meet Glasgow in Parma this afternoon, and Warriors head coach Franco Smith appears quietly confident that his side will be the ones to end their losing streak and win away from home at the fifth time of asking this season.
The South African, whose
team have at least won all three of their URC home games to date, certainly should be in an optimistic mood given the strength of the team he has been able to select. Ali Price is again rested after his Scotland duties and Jack Dempsey is out with a light groin strain, but those absences are more than offset by the return of Richie Gray, Sione Tuipulotu and Matt and Zander Fagerson. Ryan Wilson and Ollie Smith also come back to the starting line-up after missing last week’s 40-5 defeat by Leinster in Dublin - the team’s fourth away loss in as many games this season, and their 10th overall in the URC in a run that
goes back all the way to the start of the year.
With the likes of Fraser Brown also in the pack, coach Smith is hopeful that his forwards will be able to impose themselves on their opponents, especially with rain forecast.
“With Richie, Ryan, Fraz, Zander and Matt Fagerson all back in, experience and calm heads is going to be very important,” he said. “It was obvious from the two Test matches that Richie played that he’s in a good place as a player. He’s adding a lot of value on and off the field and I’m really excited to have him back.
“Last weekend, if you take the result out of it, I felt we played much better away from home. Now it’s about converting that to points and not letting the other team in.
“There’s a big desire in the team to get rid of this monkey on our back. This has been our Achilles heel for the last six to eight weeks and we’re really focused on trying to play to our best potential.”
While the Warriors have won those three matches at Scotstoun and lost all four away from home, Zebre have been beaten in all eight of their league games so far.
But the Italians – for whom Smith’s son Franco junior is on the bench – have at least picked up four losing bonus points, proving that they are rarely completely outclassed. And, having been Italian rugby’s head of high performance before joining Glasgow in August, Smith senior is very well aware of how dangerous today’s opponents can be.
“We’ve seen some very good rugby from them this year, especially in the second part of all the games,” he said. “So if we underestimate them and don’t treat them with respect we’re going to let them into the game – which will be absolutely unnecessary.
“But we need to concentrate on being clinical. We’re not just playing against Zebre, we’re playing against this competition and ourselves. We want to be the best we can be every week and we must make the step up this week again.
“Last week the scoreline
went against us after we did
some really good things out there. We left a lot of regrets and opportunities out there.
“The stats completely proved
we won everything except the game. It came down to the last 20 metres. We had an 11-per-cent conversion rate despite a lot more entries into the 22 than Leinster. They had a 63-per-cent conversion rate – and that was the difference, their accuracy and clinical ability.”
Meanwhile, stand-off Ross Thompson is expected to learn late next week if he needs an operation on the fractured ankle he sustained against Leinster. It could be decided that non-intervention is preferable, although it might mean he is sidelined for longer.
In addition to Thompson and Dempsey, nine other Warriors are listed as unavailable because of injury: Scott Cummings (foot), Allan Dell (calf), Rory Darge (ankle), Cole Forbes (neck), Thomas Gordon (calf), Sam Johnson (jaw), Enrique Pieretto (chest), Alex Samuel (back) and Duncan Weir (calf).
