The all-Scottish trio of scrum-half Chris Cusiter, centre Peter Murchie and wing Rob Dewey have impressed head coach Sean Lineen during pre-season as well as the Warriors supporters as they played their part in defeating London Wasps (16-15) at Firhill last weekend in the Warriors’ final pre-season friendly of the year.
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Of his new recruits, Sean said: “It’s the first Magners League start for Chris Cusiter, Peter Murchie and Rob Dewey, three backs I rate very highly.
“We have three quality scrum-halves and Chris has made a huge impact since he arrived here over the summer. I can’t wait to see him perform in the Magners League.
“Rob has shown his scoring potential already and you can see the quality left out of the team as a result with Hefin O'Hare and DTH van der Merwe challenging for a starting place.
“Peter Murchie is a classic case of a guy taking his chance. He is still learning but his work ethic is first-class and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do against Munster.”
Despite a rousing result against Wasps in front of a fervent Glasgow support last weekend, Sean is adamant that pre-season achievements will count for nothing unless they deliver tangible results on the pitch.
“Munster is a huge first-up challenge,” said Sean. “This is where it all starts. Pre-season is pre-season and it will all count for nothing unless we perform on the pitch on Friday night.
“There’s intense competition for places. The players have been working very hard and I’ve been impressed with their attitudes both on and off the field.
“A special mention must go to Gary Mercer who’s done a huge amount of work on our defence. This is a massive area we’ve looked at and certainly so far, the players have bought into what we’re doing in this area.”
Also among those named in the side is young prop Jon Welsh who makes his first Magners League start at Firhill.
Sean feels that the application shown by Jon is exactly why he has earned his call-up to the starting XV.
“Jon is keeping two international props out of the starting XV. Walter Malcolm [a member of the Glasgow Warriors community board] brought him to my attention when Jon was playing for GHA and his attitude was what impressed me most. He is very young but everything about him is so refreshing because he is so focussed on being the best he can be.”
Elsewhere, Johnnie Beattie returns to the back-row, re-establishing the Killer Bees’ partnership that was last season interrupted by the impressive Richie Vernon.
Sean continued: “Nowhere in the squad is competition more intense than at No.8. We have two quality performers in Johnnie Beattie and Richie Vernon which is hopefully the start of a positive rivalry even though they share a flat together. It’s good news for Glasgow to have these two guys pushing each other and it’s exciting for a coach.”
14 Rob Dewey
13 Peter Murchie
12 Graeme Morrison
11 Thom Evans
10 Dan Parks
9 Chris Cusiter
1 Jon Welsh
2 Dougie Hall
3 Moray Low
4 Tim Barker
5 Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN
6 Kelly Brown
7 John Barclay
8 Johnnie Beattie
Substitutes
16 Pat MacArthur
17 Kevin Tkachuk
18 Dan Turner
19 Richie Vernon
20 Mark McMillan
21 Ruaridh Jackson
22 Colin Shaw