Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend says losing to Connacht was the best thing that could have happened to Warriors Guinness PRO12 defence. Their 14-7 defeat to Connacht two weeks ago meant they would have to travel to Galway again for the semi-finals.The reigning champions are back at the Sportsground on Saturday where history is against them - no away team has ever won a semi-final in the competition. However, despite being forced to do it the hard way, Townsend claims coming out of the teams last meeting second best has proved to be a blessing in disguise. Glasgow Warriors players lift last seasons PRO 12 trophy He said: It was the best thing that could have happened to us.You learn more from defeat. You do get confidence from victories but you find out how to be better after a loss. Things get put through the magnifying glass.Weve had two weeks preparation to put things right. It would have been better for the club and our supporters to have been at home but having that defeat has really sharpened our focus ahead of this weekend. Our preparation has been better than normal because the team we just lost to and who we want to put a few things right against is who we play in the next game.We will learn from where we could be better and try to get our strengths out.But whether you are home or away, these games are always going to be tough. We lost away to Leinster three years ago by just two points. Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend says his side wants to put things right We won two years ago at home to Munster by a point and then against Ulster last year by a point. So they are always tight. Whoever takes their opportunities will win.A sell-out 9,500 crowd is expected to pack into Connachts home arena but while the vast majority will be supporting Pat Lams side, Townsend hopes his teams vast reserves of experience will give Glasgow the upper hand. Gregor Townsend says defeat was best thing for Glasgow The Scotstoun side have reached the play-offs for the last five years straight but this is Connachts debut appearance in the semis.Townsend said: That experience might help us. It might not given Connacht beat us last time and are at home, so they will be pretty confident. Matt Healy celebrates Connachts win over Glasgow Its a new experience for them and Im sure it will be a fantastic atmosphere at the Sportsground. Its great for Connacht and their supporters that they are getting to host a semi-final.But we want to put them under pressure and see if they will make mistakes. Whether that is because they have not played in a semi-final before or because they are playing a very good Glasgow team doesnt matter so long as we get the right outcome and Glasgow win the game.Connacht: 15 Tiernan OHalloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 1 Ronan Loughney, 2 Tom McCartney, 3 Finlay Bealham, 4 Ultan Dillane, 5 Aly Muldowney, 6 Eoin McKeon, 7 Jake Heenan. 8 John Muldoon (c).Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 JP Cooney, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Andrew Browne, 20 Sean OBrien, 21 John Cooney, 22 Shane OLeary, 23 Peter Robb.Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 1 Gordon Reid, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Leone Nakarawa, 5 Jonny Gray (c), 6 Ryan Wilson, 7 Simone Favaro, 8 Josh Strauss.Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Darcy Rae, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Adam Ashe, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro.Watch Connacht v Glasgow live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Saturday from 6.00pm. Catch the match for £6.99 with a NOW TV day pass. Babe Ruth Jersey .Tzavelas opened the scoring in the 11th and Pereyra added another in the 51st. Emmanuel Kone pulled one back in the 80th and Levadiakos missed several chances to level in the last 10 minutes. Tom Glavine Jersey . They were expecting him there all along. The Pacers announced Friday night that George has been cleared "to return to normal basketball activity," a decision made three days after he was concussed in Game 2 of the Indiana-Miami series. http://www.baseballbravesproshop.com/fre...-braves-jersey/. Napoli hit two home runs, Jonny Gomes and prized rookie Xander Bogaerts also connected, and the Red Sox kept up their dizzying scoring spree at Yankee Stadium by bashing New York 13-9 Saturday for a fifth straight win. David Justice Jersey . - John Elways philosophy is to address immediate needs in free agency, even though some of his own veterans may prove too pricey to keep around. Dansby Swanson Jersey . At this point, even he isnt sure when it is going to stop. The right-hander dropped his fourth straight decision in Los Angeles 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night, leaving his status very much in doubt as the Dodgers prepare for the stretch drive.If you polled thirty NHL general managers on what his respective team’s biggest need was going forward, I would estimate that about half would respond with ‘developing or acquiring a top-four defenceman’. It’s a fair request with the way the sport has progressed in recent years – the days of true defensive defencemen look to be in the past, with a premium placed on skating and high-end puck-moving ability to beat aggressive forechecking and attack through the neutral zone with control of the puck. Goaltending withstanding, I think disparities in blue-liner ability from team to team may be the most noticeable aspect of the sport today. The Chicago Blackhawks have made a living off of a highly-mobile defense that can flip the ice and complement the attack of their talented forward group. The Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils have their share of competent and talented forwards in the top-six, but simply don’t have the blue-line capabilities to consistently threaten as a five-man unit. Ultimately, it’s one of the big reasons why they struggle so mightily to score goals at even-strength. They spend too much time in the defensive zone, and they are impossibly slow relative to the rest of the league at getting up ice with pace and control. The increase in demand for this particular defenceman has created for a fascinating trade market, one that’s going to heat up over the next six weeks. More than half of the league reaches the playoffs already, and there are another handful of hopefuls who will still approach the trade deadline as buyers despite unfavorable odds. Consequently, if you are a seller holding one of these plus-skating, plus-puck moving defenders, you’re in a decent position. Two players in particular who should command decent returns as trade rentals are Jeff Petry of the Edmonton Oilers, and Andrej Sekera of the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, there’s a reasonable argument to be made that their respective teams should be seriously considering extensions – top-four guys don’t grow on trees, and these teams need all of the talent they can get. But, if you think the Petry/Sekera ships have sailed (and believe that the tank race is on), then you may consider shipping them out to the highest bidder. Let’s look at this from a buyer’s perspective. Why does Jeff Petry ($3-million expiring contract) and Andrej Sekera ($1.75-million expiring contract) make sense for the contenders in need of a defenceman? For one, it’s clear that they are both top-four defencemen. By grabbing the last four years of data and providing appropriate filters (3000+ minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time, and a RelativeCorsi% of at least +1.0), only 53-players make the cut. You’ll notice that our ice-time and RelativeCorsi% filters basically created a situation in which only first-pairing defenders and highly-productive second-pairing defenders qualified. You can fact check this by looking up your favorite NHL defenceman, and finding him on thiss graph.dddddddddddd (Or, finding your least favorite defenceman, and noticing his omission.) It’s a nice way to stomp out potential biases and create comparables going forward. Here, Jeff Petry – who has toiled in Edmonton for years – sits right next to players like Johnny Boychuk and Ryan Suter. He hasn’t been as productive a scorer as many of the other defenders, but the Oilers have been more than two percentage points better in Corsi% with Petry on the ice. And, look at Andrej Sekera’s company! He’s bordered by talent in every direction, his production – at least on this graph – indiscernible from the likes of James Wisniewski, Nick Leddy, Keith Yandle, and Duncan Keith. RelativeCorsi% is clear on both Petry and Sekera – their teams control play favourably when they’re operating on the blue-line, less so when they change out for other defencemen. Those skeptical of the merits Corsi% may be interested in seeing how Edmonton and Buffalo/Carolina did with and without the player, but through the lens of another metric. Like, scoring chances. We know scoring chances pretty closely mirror Corsi%, but it’s an avenue worth traversing once more, if only to strengthen our theory. What I’ve done below is pulled out scoring chance with/without numbers for each player over the same timeframe courtesy War on Ice. We know Petry and Sekera’s teams were better territorially with them on the ice. But, were they better from a scoring chance aspect? First, Petry: The lockout season wasn’t kind to Jeff Petry – it was the only season we can see where Edmonton may have been better without him from a scoring chance perspective. Beyond that, this graph is convincing – especially over the last hundred games. Based on the consistent reports about his availability via trade, I worry that Edmonton doesn’t know what kind of player they have. Or, that they don’t know how bad things get when other defencemen are taking regular shifts. Now, Sekera: Sekera’s relative numbers were great in Buffalo, but have since skirted towards the team averages in Carolina. Still, for a guy carrying just a $1.75MM cap hit – one that would be paid out on a pro-rated basis if acquired at the trade deadline – the data’s pretty encouraging. We know Sekera’s one of fifty or so regular defenders who have carried positive possession numbers for a long period of time. The scoring chance data may have looked better in Buffalo than it did in Carolina, but that doesn’t mean he’s underwater. The Oilers and Hurricanes are in a tricky spot here. They need to retain as much NHL-talent as possible, but there’s always the possibility that Petry and Sekera just want to play out their contracts and sign with better teams in the off-season. You can’t risk losing quality players for nothing. To that extent, Craig MacTavish and Ron Francis are in a simple position: sell these players to the highest bidders over the next six weeks. 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