ALEX Dunbar has been named in the Glasgow Warriors team for their crunch European Champions Cup match against Northampton on Sunday after completing his return from injury. The Scotland centre partners Sam Johnson, who will be making his first start for the Warriors. Mark Bennett is unavailable after injuring his shoulder in the defeat by Racing 92, while Peter Horne and Richie Vernon are still sidelined in addition to Bennett.
Sean Lamont, who celebrates his 35th birthday today, returns to one wing, with Lee Jones on the other and Taqele Naiyaravoro on the bench. Last week Jones had to be prepared to step in at scrum-half as Mike Blair and Grayson Hart were injured in addition to the longer-term absentee Henry Pyrgos, but Hart has recovered and joins Naiyaravoro among the substitutes.
Finn Russell, who played at inside centre against Racing, goes back to his normal position of fly-half, with Duncan Weir dropping down to the bench.
The only change in the pack sees Sila Puafisi comes in at tighthead prop for Zander Fagerson. Tim Swinson and Simone Favaro have recovered from injury and are among the forwards replacements.
The Warriors need to win, ideally with a bonus point, to keep their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive. The five pool winners goes through automatically, and are joined in the draw for the last eight by the three runners-up with most points.
Racing, who play Scarlets tomorrow, are top of the pool with 17 points. Northampton are on ten, a point ahead of Glasgow, while Scarlets are out of the running on two. The Warriors are at home to Racing in next week’s final round of pool games. That match has been switched to Rugby Park because the Scotstoun pitch is unplayable after heavy rain.
Glasgow Warriors (v Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens, Sunday, 5.30pm): S Hogg; L Jones, A Dunbar, S Johnson, S Lamont; F Russell, A Price; G Reid, P MacArthur, S Puafisi, L Nakarawa, J Gray, R Wilson, C Fusaro, A Ashe. Substitutes: S Mamukashvili, A Allan, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, S Favaro, G Hart, D Weir, T Naiyaravoro.
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