BACK IN THE RUNNING
Fagerson fit after leg break and ready for France, insists Rennie
GLASGOW Warriors head coach Dave Rennie insists prop Zander Fagerson has made a complete recovery from a broken leg and will be ready for Six Nations duty in Paris next weekend.
The tighthead prop will make his comeback for the Warriors against Cardiff Blues in the Pro14 fixture tonight, his first competitive action since being injured against the Cheetahs in South Africa back in September.
Provided he comes through unscathed against the Welsh outfit, Rennie expects Fagerson to be immediately called up by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend for the Six Nations match against France a week today.
Rennie has been so impressed by Fagerson in training over the past few weeks that he will tell Townsend there is no reason he should not play him despite his lengthy lay-off.
‘Zander is working really hard and is ready to go,’ said Rennie. ‘Look, there is no doubt he will be a tad rusty but I thought he was outstanding for us in the first three weeks of the Pro14 before he got injured in September.
‘It has been disappointing not to have him, for him not to play and for him to miss out on the early Six Nations stuff, but he is now ready to go.
‘We might only have him for a week but we are very excited to have him on the field.
‘It is just an assumption, obviously, as I haven’t spoken to Gregor Townsend but, with WP Nel injured, it is good timing, I think, to have him back.
‘Is he ready to play for Scotland? Yeah, but at the end of the day that is Gregor’s decision.
‘Zander has impressed us and worked really hard. He’s a real point of difference for a tighthead because he is a big man and he has very good skills. He’s aggressive at clean out and carry and for a young man, he is a pretty competitive tighthead already.’
Glasgow also welcome back hooker George Turner, who hasn’t played since picking up an ankle injury in the home game against Lyon in the Champions Cup in December.
Turner’s return gives Townsend further cover at hooker in case Edinburgh captain Stuart McInally or Glasgow’s Fraser Brown pick up an injury.
‘George is a hell of an athlete, with or without the ball,’ said Rennie. ‘Obviously, Fraser Brown is back from injury as well, but we’re excited to see George playing again.’
Rennie has also made the call to start Peter Horne, who usually plays in the centre, at fly-half in place of Adam Hastings, who is on the bench.
Hastings has been enduring a poor run of form that first saw him left out of the Scotland squad for the defeat to Ireland and now sees him play second fiddle to Horne at club level.
The Warriors head coach said that although Hastings was signed from Bath as a ten and Horne’s best position is centre, he still wasn’t sure who was his first choice fly-half this season.
‘We wanted to give Pete a crack as he has had about four starts for us at ten this year and played really well,’ said Rennie.
‘Maybe not so well against Kings but he was excellent against Munster and started against Cardiff.
‘He has gone really well, so we are keen to play him.
‘Adam’s last outing for us was against Saracens but Peter starts this week.
‘Like a lot of positions, we are all trying to create competition for places. You want to have your best players on the field.’
Glasgow sit second in Conference A of the Pro14, with 46 points, seven points behind leaders Munster.
Rennie is desperate to finish top of the section to secure a home semi-final but knows his team can’t afford many more slip-ups.
‘Our side of the draw is very competitive and we realise the importance of the game,’ he said.
‘We don’t think it is a bad thing that we are going to have to scrape and fight and have to be at our best to top our conference.
‘I guess we felt that at this stage last year there wasn’t the same edge and the same desperation as we were ahead back then.
‘We’re still in Europe this year and we’re still in a position to make the play-offs over the next few weeks if we get it right.
‘We are obviously missing a few guys but we’ve got the depth and we’ve just got to get on with it.’