Troy Nathan’s tactical kicking will be crucial as Kiwi makes Heineken Cup debut in the biggest game in Glasgow’s history

THE biggest game in Glasgow’s history is how Glasgow centre Troy Nathan sees this afternoon’s showdown in the south of France. The Kiwi centre with the Irish grandfather and the English mum has ousted Scotland centre Graeme Morrison from the inside centre berth for a match that everyone is calling “massive”.

Morrison suffered a severe case of “the dropsy” against the same opposition last weekend, with the poor midfielder almost unable to catch a pass in the opening half. The reward for suspect handling is to find himself dropped from Glasgow’s match day squad.

On a positive note, Johnnie Beattie gets a rare chance to shine on the big stage which is, after all, his favoured arena. It could be smart psychology by Sean Lineen to throw his athletic number eight into such an important game and on such a large pitch. The coach may hope to surprise the opposition with Beattie’s pace in the wide channels, although the breakaway needs to attend to his defensive duties in helping keep a muscular Montpellier pack at bay.

Beattie gets his first taste of Heineken Cup action this season while today marks Nathan’s first ever start in European rugby’s main event.

The Kiwi may lack a yard of pace and is no sledgehammer with ball in hand, but boasts soft hands and the vision of a man who played all his early rugby at flyhalf. He joined Connacht as such and migrated to the back three before coming almost full circle to start at inside centre today. His tactical kicking will be all the more important given that Ruaridh Jackson’s every inclination is to attack with the ball in hand.

Nathan’s selection over Morrison goes some way towards proving that coach Lineen finally has some options on big match days, but the Kiwi may just have edged selection because he has been here and done it all before. Two seasons ago, in Michael Bradley’s final year with the club, Nathan travelled to Montpellier with Connacht in the Amlin Challenge Cup and walked away with a 22-19 win which helped propel the Irish underdogs into the semi-finals.

“I think we won it with a penalty in the last minute and I’d settle for the same again,” he says. “I’ve had the experience of going down there and coming away with a victory so hopefully we can back that up on Saturday.”

According to Nathan, the key to winning in France is to play with pace and intensity for the full 80 minutes and, looking at his team for today, Lineen obviously concurs. So he was not best pleased to be greeted at Montpellier airport with a rain shower - a reminder of home, perhaps, but not entirely helpful if Glasgow plan to run Montpellier off their own park.

Lineen has taken a leaf from the Rob Moffat playbook, fielding two specialist openside flankers in tandem. Chris Fusaro and John Barclay are both specialist sevens although the latter will wear the number six shirt this afternoon. It’s a high risk strategy against a large and physical French side that Glasgow only just managed to subdue last Sunday, despite the absence of a raft of first choice names.

Mistakes tend to be punished at this level and one missed tackle led to Glasgow conceding a late try in the first round of the double header at Firhill, with one or two fingers pointing at Fusaro who concedes approximately six inches and five stones to Montpellier’s Malmuka Gorgodze.

The giant Georgian known as “Gordodzilla” starts on the bench today alongside French flyhalf Francois Trinh Duc and the 30-strong gang of Glasgow supporters who travelled with the squad yesterday will hope that the duo remain there for the duration.

With just one loss in the last nine games bolstering their confidence, Glasgow are in good spirits, never mind that they have yet to put together an 80 minute performance this season. Instead the Warriors have battled away, grinding out wins without earning many plaudits. If the team were a little ordinary during a fortuitous win against Bath, they were much worse for 40 minutes last Sunday against Montpellier. There is room for improvement.

“We’re not a great team, we’re a good team,” is Nathan’s studied response. “We’ve still lots to learn, little things. The good thing is that we’re aware of those things that we have to work on and hopefully, come this week, we can get it right.”

Can he see all the bits coming together to allow the team to make the next step? “Definitely! We have to play in the right areas of the park, ball execution, it’s little lapses and once we get them right I think we’ll make good progress going forward.”

Montpellier: Peyras Loustalet, Berard, Bosch, Combezou, Audrin; Perraux, Escande; Shvelidze, Ladhuie, Kervarec, Tuineau, Hancke, Bost, Martin, Matadigo.Substitutes: Caudullo, Nariashvili, Bustos, Gorgodze, Galletier, Paillaugue, Trinh Duc.

Glasgow: Hogg, Aramburu, Murchie, Nathan, Lamont; Jackson, Cusiter; Grant, MacArthur, Cusack, Kellock, Gray, Barclay, Fusaro, Beattie. Substitutes: Hall, Welsh, Low, Ryder, Wilson, Prygos, Weir, Dewey.