Warriors can be talk of the Town in PRO 12 once again
GREGOR Townsend insists Glasgow Warriors CAN win back the PRO12 title in his last season as coach – but expects the competition to be tougher than ever before.
The Warriors begin their campaign next week against champions Connacht, who beat them in the semi-finals and the last game of the regular 2015-16 season.
Townsend, who will take over as Scotland coach next June, expects the Irish province to be contenders again, and also named Cardiff as one of the teams to watch.
But he is convinced his own team can reclaim the championship they won with an unforgettable victory over Munster in the 2014-15 final in Belfast.
“The squad are capable of it,” he said. “Definitely. They’re capable of going far in Europe. But it’s going to be very tough.
“I see this PRO12 being more competitive than the last two, which were already pretty competitive, with four or five teams pushing right to the wire. I can see seven or eight teams this year in the mix. We’ve all got our players from the beginning of the season, so you should see teams really competitive right at the beginning.
“We’ll have to be – we’re playing the best teams right at the beginning. But with the group that we have, the effort they put in in training does get its rewards. We’ve seen that in preseason, so we want to build on that over the next few weeks.
“I genuinely mean this – any one of seven or eight teams could win. Cardiff are one of the best teams just now, one of the fastest improving teams and made some very good signings.
“Edinburgh were second in the league when they beat us for the second time in January, and they’ve got some key players back from injury.
“We’ll know where we are probably after the first four games, because they’re very tough. We’re playing the three semi-finalists and Cardiff in our first four games, so thank you PRO12!”
Townsend also said that noone from the British and Irish Lions had spoken to him about his involvement on next year’s tour to New Zealand, in the wake of speculation that he would be an assistant coach to Wales boss Warren Gatland along with England assistants Steve Borthwick and Paul Gustard.
Next summer’s Scotland tour and the Lions’ series against New Zealand are expected to overlap, so it would seem impossible for Townsend to have a hands-on role with the British and Irish select. “No-one has spoken to me about Lions coaching,” he said. “I’ve never coached the Lions before. I’m unavailable as a player, that’s for sure.”
Asked if going on the Scotland tour meant he would not be with the Lions, he added: “Yeah, I would imagine. We’ve still to firm up when the Scotland tour goes ahead.”
The Lions will announce their head coach a fortnight today in Edinburgh, with Gatland, the Wales head coach, widely expected to be given the job again after winning the last series against Australia.
This season’s PRO12 final will be at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin – the second time the occasion has been taken to a national stadium after Murrayfield was the venue in May.