Unbeaten Glasgow Warriors welcome Benetton Rugby to Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night looking to build on a very strong start to the new Guinness PRO14 season.

What’s at stake? The Warriors can extend their unbeaten start to the season to five games with victory over the Italians and tighten their grip on the summit of Conference A. Benetton meanwhile will be looking for points to move further ahead of Dragons and Southern Kings at the bottom of Conference B having recorded two wins from their opening four games. The Italian side have won both their last two games, following up their 20-17 win in Edinburgh with a 16-6 success over Ospreys at Stadio Monigo.

Team news (Glasgow Warriors): Dave Rennie has made nine changes to the side that beat Munster in Round 4 with British & Irish Lion Tommy Seymour set for his first game at home this year. Peter Horne moves across to fly-half while there’s an all-new front row of Alex Allan, D’Arcy Rae and Pat MacArthur. Brian Alainu’uese joins Scott Cummings in the engine room with the experienced trio of Rob Harley, Chris Fusaro and Ryan Wilson completing the pack.

Team news (Benetton): Fly-half Marty Banks replaces Ian McKinley with Tito Tebaldi starting at scrum-half ahead of Edoardo Gori in the only changes to the Italians’ backline. Marco Barbini is alongside Sebastian Negri and Abraham Steyn in the back row with Dean Budd moving into the second row alongside Marco Fuser. Cherif Traore is selected ahead of Alberto De Marchi at prop.

Talking points: Benetton have two wins from their last two games so will be full of confidence for their trip to Scotland, especially after beating Edinburgh in Round 3. And Warriors assistant coach Kenny Murray is wary of the threat posed by the in-form Italians despite the impressive recent performances of his own squad. He said: “Benetton look as if they’re playing with a lot more confidence and ambition. They’ve moved the ball well against teams this year and we need to be ready to defend well against them.
“They’ve got a big forward pack and are very direct in their game plan. The boys are really looking forward to playing at home again and backing up last week’s performance.”

Key Battle: Ryan Wilson v Marco Barbini

Barbini is promoted from the bench to No.8 for this weekend and comes up against a Warriors captain who has over 100 caps for his club. With the scrum likely to be a key area of this match, whichever player can get the better go-forward ball from the base will have a big impact in determining the outcome.

Key Stat: Warriors’ only defeat in their last six matches at Scotstoun was to Edinburgh in the second leg of the 1872 Cup in May.

Did you know? The Italians have won two of their last three away games, including a victory on their most recent visit to Scotland – two weeks ago in Edinburgh.

Glasgow Warriors: R Jackson, T Seymour, N Grigg, S Johnson, L Jones, P Horne, H Pyrgos, A Allan, P MacArthur, D Rae, B Alainu’uese, S Cummings, R Harley, C Fusaro, R Wilson

Replacements: F Brown, J Bhatti, A Nicol, T Swinson, M Fagerson, A Price, B Thomson, N Matawalu

Benetton: J Hayward, A Esposito, T Benvenuti, A Sgarbi, L Sperandio, M Banks, T Tebaldi, C Traore, L Bigi, S Ferrari, M Fuser, D Budd, S Negri, A Steyn, M Barbini

Replacements: F Zani, A De Marchi, T Pasquali, F Ruzza, M Lazzaroni, R Barbieri, G Bronzini, I McKinley

Match officials – Referee: Dan Jones (WRU), AR1: Rhys Thomas (WRU), AR2: Cammy Rudkin (SRU)

Guinness PRO14 Final 2018 Ticket Information: Fans can save up to 20% on selected tickets, and prices start at just €30 for adults and €5 for children, and be booked via www.ticketmaster.ie