Sean Lineen only looking for Glasgow victory

The Belfast side, who meet Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup semi-finals next Saturday, succumbed to a 16-8 defeat at home to Leinster last night which leaves them still a point adrift of the Warriors with the Scots now holding a game in hand. Ulster’s last league match is away to Munster on 5 May while Glasgow are at home to Connacht on the same day.

Sean Lineen’s side could even secure their play-off spot in Italy if Munster can do them a favour and beat Scarlets – who sit two points behind Glasgow – in Llanelli this evening, and Glasgow win.

When the Warriors claimed their first play-off spot in the then Magners League two years ago they did so by ending the normal league with a storming run of four successive wins. This season was heading the same way until defeat at Munster last weekend. However, in 2010 those decisive results came after losing to the red jerseys and Lineen leads his men to Treviso hoping for a similar reaction.

“We could have won at Munster two years ago and the boys all know that they could have won there last week if they had fronted up,” he said. “But no matter the results elsewhere this weekend, all we’re focusing on is winning in Treviso.”

The Italians lie seventh in the league but now carry all Italian hopes with news that Aironi are being scrapped this summer due to financial struggles and a new team set up to try and emulate the steps Treviso have made.

The Italians showed their strength with a run of victories earlier in the season, claiming the scalps of Glasgow at Firhill – their first away win – Scarlets, Ulster and the Dragons, and the latter a 50-pointer at the Stadio di Monigo when the respective internationalists were back from the World Cup. Their run came to an end when Edinburgh triumphed in Italy, a gutsy, hard-earned win that Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley believed provided a crucial launchpad to their subsequent Heineken Cup success.

Glasgow have strengthened their side for the challenge, having lost in Treviso 19-16 last year. Graeme Morrison and John Barclay return from injury, Barclay replacing his Montpellier-bound friend Johnnie Beattie at No 8 while Morrison’s selection means a return for Alex Dunbar to the 13 jersey and to full-back for Stuart Hogg after his scintillating hat-trick display in Cork.

Duncan Weir is preferred this week to Ruaridh Jackson at stand-off, the youngster having scored all the points and earned the RaboDirect ‘Man of the Match’ award in the last venture to Italy, an 18-6 win over Aironi in November, and Tommy Seymour is back for Federico Arambaru on the wing.

Up front, Ryan Grant takes over at loosehead prop from Jon Welsh, and though he suffered a shoulder injury in training this week he was due to drop to the bench anyway. Now, Gordon Reid steps up to provide cover. Last year’s top try-scorer DTH van der Merwe returns to the bench after recovering from a shoulder injury sustained starring for Canada in the World Cup, but Rob Dewey, Rory Lamont, David Lemi, Fergus Thomson and Ryan Wilson all remain sidelined by injury.

Glasgow will have some vocal support tomorrow with a 35-strong group from Greenock Wanderers on tour in Italy. They will play local side Paese RFC, who are just five km from Treviso, tonight and take in the Glasgow match tomorrow after receiving complimentary tickets from the Warriors.

BBC ALBA are showing the game live, with a special fans’ screening in the company of current Glasgow squad members at Waxy O’Connor’s in Glasgow’s George Street.

The Italians are confident of claiming a fourth home win and eighth victory of the season in their bid to keep Connacht, Edinburgh and Aironi below them. And no wonder. They have a team full of internationalists, the spine of whom played in the win over Scotland in Rome last month, notably the half-backs and back row, and boast a strong bench, and are coached by a clever tactician in South African Franco Smith.

Glasgow have to be able to take them on at the coal-face, winning the scrum and lineout battles and stopping them at source. Achieve that and they have a chance of securing a first win over the Italians on their own patch and regaining the momentum lost in Cork ahead of the final regular league match at home to Connacht next month.