Full strength Glasgow keen to complete Connacht treble
THERE is always something of the philosopher coach about Dave Rennie and as they landed on the Emerald Isle yesterday the Glasgow Warriors coach was true to form on the eve of his team’s PRO14 opener in Galway.
Naturally he is hopeful that his second season in charge will begin as his first did, with a victory at Connacht which launched a 10-match winning run in the domestic competition which lasted until their festive derbies with Edinburgh, but in looking back upon that first campaign he has consistently acknowledged that their performance in the second half of the season was nowhere near good enough.
“What we learned is that it doesn’t matter how well you start, it’s how you finish,” said the man who led the Waikato Chiefs to two southern hemisphere Super Rugby titles.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t want to start well, because you’ve got to do so in this competition, but we got ourselves in a good spot last year and didn’t finish off.”
Lessons have clearly been learned in terms of squad management.
“We’ve got to make sure we’ve got a full squad to choose from, that we’ve got competition for places and that we’re really fresh and enthusiastic in the latter part of the year,” Rennie continued. “We lacked a little bit of edge last year so we’re discussing how we change that for this year.”
There is also recognition that there has been an upping of the ante in the PRO14 this season, with teams across the competition looking stronger than has been customarily the case at this time of year.
“I think that this competition gets stronger every year. It’s good isn’t it?” he asked rhetorically.
“Everyone’s had had pretty solid games pre-season against good English opposition. When you look at a number of the [first weekend] match ups it’s a pretty strong competition.”
As Rennie noted Connacht are among those who have impressed and for all that Glasgow also won their opening match when they visited the then champions at the start of the 2016-17 season, completing a hat-trick of opening day wins at The Sportsground will be no mean feat.
“We’ve had a look at the footage from their previous two or three games,” he said.
“Pre-season has gone well for them, beating a couple of English sides in Wasps and Bristol, and putting big scores up.
“As they’ve done in the past they’ll use what’s a pretty impressive back line. They’ve stressed opponents so far.
“We’ll give them some respect because we’re aware of their threats, but we think there are a couple of places where we can target them.
“It’s a challenging place to come to in round one but we’re ready to go. It’s been a long time preparing for this.”
That respect is reflected in the team selection, with both co-captains, Calum Gibbins and Ryan Wilson, starting in the back-row, while Stuart Hogg and Peter Horne are re-introduced to what is an all-international back line after missing the pre-season matches against Harlequins and Northampton, while there is also vast experience available on the bench.
Clearly this is the strongest side available only, which only serves to reinforce how much confidence Rennie has formed in the callow halfback pairing of George Horne and Adam Hastings who won their first international caps on tour in the summer.
“They both had good seasons for us last year,” he explained. “Obviously, Peter Horne is another option at 10 although we’re playing him at 12 this week. They’ve gone really well pre-season so they get the first crack.”