Jack & victors
Wilson reckons ‘powerful’ Dempsey can give Warriors ruthless edge in Euros
DANNY WILSON reckons Jack Dempsey has given Glasgow Warriors a ruthless edge that can help them cause an upset when they kick-off their European Champions Cup campaign.
Warriors head to France on Sunday to take on last season’s finalists La Rochelle, who are coached by ex-Ireland great Ronan O’Gara and have a squad littered with internationalists.
They then host last year’s European Champions Exeter Chiefs the following Saturday.
And that match will bring club legends Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray back to Scotstoun.
Chiefs have had a below-par start to the season by their own high standards but appear to be getting back to their best after Saturday’s 18-15 win over arch-rivals Saracens. Wilson is expecting two physical contests and believes No.8 Dempsey – who joined Warriors this summer from the Waratahs in Australia – will be key to coping with that challenge.
After Dempsey was named man of the match in Saturday night’s win over the Dragons, Wilson said: “He was outstanding and has been outstanding pretty much from the moment he arrived here. “He’s exactly what we hoped he would be.
“What we signed was a powerful animal on both sides of the ball, with real rugby nous as well. This was probably the best of those performances he’s put in for us so far.
“I’m really pleased for him and he’s a good example for the standard we want to be at.
“He’s got plenty of edge. He only knows one gear. Even in training, it’s all or nothing with Jack.
“He doesn’t recognise anything else and I like that about him.
“He’s raised the standards in training.”
Wilson was also pleased with how New Zealander Josh McKay performed at full-back on his debut for the club.
He said: “Josh showed glimpses of what we signed.
“He made a try-saving tackle which was outstanding and he also popped up with a couple of good moments in attack. So there were a lot of positives for us from that Dragons game.
“But I also think there are still a lot of things to improve on moving forward.
“And we’ll need to make those improvements because the bar goes up now, doesn’t it?
“We’ve looked at La Rochelle over the past couple of days and they are some team, with some starstudded individuals. Physically they are huge right throughout their team – and there is a lot of power in there as well.
“So we need to match that and play a style of rugby that’s going to suit playing against the big teams.”