Warriors have three weeks to be on song for their Euro vision
HALFWAY through the first tranche of PRO14 matches and Glasgow Warriors appear to have reasserted themselves as the superior force in the Scottish game.
Three wins from three, with two bonus points places them top of their Conference, with the best record in the competition to date, while Edinburgh have lost two of their three matches.
In reality, though, both have essentially made satisfactory starts to their campaigns, Glasgow one bonus point better off than at this time last year, Edinburgh having taken losing bonus points from two difficult away matches, one of which they should have won.
Either way, however, this is where their respective coaching teams should really start earning their money as the next three weeks become more about the run-in to the first round of European Champions Cup than anything else.
Just as they had this time last year, Glasgow have gained the upper hand over their main Conference rivals Munster yet Irish teams are consistenty successful when the European campaign reaches its climax. It is hardly a coincidence.
With no more right to success than Scotland in terms of rugby history or human resources, they have done so by putting their best combinations together, reintroducing some of their leading players and resting others, ensuring that partnerships and units are operating to best possible effect and getting the balance right between match sharpness and freshness for the fray.
By contrast Glasgow have repeatedly come up short in the most basic elements of the game, a failure that has knock-on consequences for the national team given its reliance on Glasgow players in recent years.
The insistence from within the camp that they can take on the bully boys in a way that was not evident in last season’s Champions Cup in spite of going into the competition with the best domestic record in Europe, will be fully tested in the opening round when three-time champions and English title holders Saracens visit Scotstoun.
Awareness of that was indicated this week by Kenny Murray (inset), the longest-standing member of the Glasgow coaching staff, as he recognised that there is no reason for them to fail to enter this season’s Champions Cup with a 100 per cent winning record, just as they did last year, but that they must work out a way of doing so in an increasingly competitive PRO14, while getting that preparation right for the tougher tests to come.
“We’ve got two home games, Dragons and then Zebre and they’ll be games we’re confident about, but saying that, I’m sure Cardiff were confident going to Zebre at the weekend and obviously lost,” he noted. “You have to show them more respect than we’ve maybe done in previous years. We’d like to put on a good show at home against these teams but obviously
‘‘ You have to show teams more respect than in previous years
Saracens are going to pose a different threat in three weeks.”
In many ways that speaks to where Scottish rugby has fallen short in recent years, producing teams that entertain when allowed to, but with no Plan B when not. Head coach Dave Rennie’s background, as a two-time winner in Super Rugby with the unfashionable Waikato Chiefs, suggests he can give Glasgow’s players the best chance of proving they really can mix it with the best when properly prepared and still be in contention by the time talisman, Stuart Hogg, returns to fitness for the December or January rounds.
This season represents the best possible opportunity to do so since, Saracens apart, they look to have been given the most favourable of draws as Lyon make their tournament debut, while Cardiff play in the Champions Cup for the first time since it was re-branded. In the PRO14, Warriors take on Southern Kings tomorrow.