Wales wing Adams boosts Cardiff bid for play-offs

Wales back Josh Adams will make his first appearance since the Six Nations when Cardiff attempt to take another step towards the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-offs at Glasgow.

The Blue and Blacks are sixth in the table before their trip to face a Warriors side battling Stormers for top spot.

Cardiff have claimed a match point from all but one fixture this season and will look to move a step closer towards a top-eight finish at Scotstoun Stadium.

They are boosted by the return of wing Adams, who has not played since Wales' win against Italy because of a back spasm and head injury.

He starts at outside centre for the first time since 2022 while flanker James Botham and tight-head prop Keiron Assiratti also come into the side that beat Ospreys. Back-row forward Alex Mann remains sidelined.

Sixth-placed Cardiff have a six-point lead over Connacht, who are the only side outside the play-offs who can force their way in.

Stuart Lancaster's side host fifth-placed Munster on Saturday evening and defeat could leave them unable to catch the Blue and Blacks.

However, Cardiff might not only be playing for the play-offs when welcoming Stormers to the Arms Park in the final round of the season.

The team that finishes eighth would miss out on next season's Champions Cup if Ulster fail to make the play-offs but win the Challenge Cup.

Cardiff have addressed the permutations but will put them to the back of their minds in Glasgow.

"We discussed it as a team, it's really tough to do all the calculations about other teams," Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl.

"We feel it is still in our hands and we can control it, so it's back to the old cliche of this week being the most important and we will try to get as many points as we can."

Glasgow currently trail Stormers by a point and will aim for a five-point haul to put the heat on the South Africans, who are in action at Ulster on Friday night.

Warriors also want to get back to winning ways at Scotstoun after suffering a first home loss of the season against Toulon in the Champions Cup quarter-finals last time out.

Victory will ensure Glasgow have at least one more home game in the play-offs, meaning it would not be a farewell to the departing Jack Dempsey, Johnny Matthews, Huw Jones and Adam Hastings.

Montpellier-bound fly-half Hastings is suspended for the final two games of the regular season but Warriors name a formidable side to face Cardiff.

Van Zyl played under, and coached with, Glasgow boss Franco Smith at Cheetahs in South Africa.

"They are a great team who are well coached and just do a lot of the basic stuff really well," he said.

"They know how to put you under pressure with a high ball-in-play time and a lot of possession. It's a challenge that we are braced for and we will have to be at our best."

Glasgow: McKay; Steyn (capt), McDowall, Sione Tuipulotu, Rowe; Lancaster, Horne; Bhatti, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Miller, Samuel, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Schickerling, Talakai, Oguntibeju, Duncan, Vailanu, Afshar, O Smith.

Cardiff: Winnett; Beetham, Adams, B Thomas, Bowen; Sheedy, Mulder; Barratt, Belcher (capt), Assiratti, McNally, Thornton, Botham, D Thomas, Basham.

Replacements: E Lloyd, Southworth, Wainwright, Nott, Lawrence, Bevan, Jennings, I Lloyd.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

Assistants: Ru Campbell & David Sutherland (SRU)

TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)