Dave calls in reinforcements to help avoid injury crisis
GLASGOW Warriors head coach Dave Rennie yesterday offered his thanks to Newcastle Falcons counterpart Dean Richards after revealing that the English Premiership club have released a promising Scottish youngster to help address an early-season injury crisis.
The eight-week loan represents a second stint at Scotstoun for 21-year-old Andrew Davidson, who is a product of the Scottish Rugby academy and played for Glasgow in a pre-season friendly against Clermont Auvergne four years ago.
He is brought directly into the squad for tonight’s visit to Northampton Saints.
“We have a few injuries in the second row,” Rennie explained. “Tim Swinson broke his leg against Canada and is out until December, Kiran McDonald did a ligament in his finger and is out until November, Brian Alainu’uese has had issues with his ankle and is probably out until at least round five, so we are probably just one injury away from being under pressure there – [and] we have to manage Jonny Gray from an international point of view.
“Dean Richards was kind enough to allow [Davidson] here on loan for a couple of months which gives us enough cover. We are keen to see him play. He has trained well but it is not easy for the young man, he has had a lot of stuff to get his head around. He is keen to jump out there and make a bit of a statement.”
Gray played in the side that thrashed Harlequins last week, but joins a posse of seasoned internationalists on the sidelines this weekend as Glasgow finalise their on-field preparations for the PRO14 season at Franklin’s Gardens and Rennie is expecting it to be much tougher than last Saturday’s outing in Perth against Harlequins.
“Realistically, Quins were missing a few. Northampton had a good win last week, so it’s great from our perspective. They’ll be tough; just what we need heading into our comp,” said Rennie.
That is reflected in what looks, man-for-man, to be a stronger looking starting line-up led by both co-captains Callum Gibbins and Ryan Wilson.
“The plan always was first game to give game time to all the guys who have been training the last couple of months,” Rennie continued. “We are bringing some more in who we have managed a bit and there are guys who have come back from international duty who have had a bit of extra time to get their head around things and have a few more potentially to come back next week and a handful probably the week after that based on minor injuries and off-season operations.”
Rennie meanwhile hinted that it will be his fellow New Zealander Gibbins who will wear the captain’s armband.
“[Referees] don’t like too many people advising them throughout a game. We’ll just share out that duty. They and the other leaders have various responsibilities,” he said.“We’ll chop and change the first couple of weeks.” Glasgow R Jackson; T Seymour, A Dunbar, S Johnson, N Matawalu; A Hastings, G Horne; J Bhatti, G Turner, D Rae, S Cummings, G Peterson, R Harley, C Gibbins, R Wilson. Replacements K Bryce, G Stewart, A Allan, O Kebble, A Nicol, A Davidson, M Smith, A Ashe, N Frisby, B Thomson, P Kelly, N Grigg, R Nairn, DTH van der Merwe, R Hughes