Ashman is a big deal for Glasgow and Scotland

GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Danny Wilson has hailed the loan signing of hooker Ewan Ashman as a deal that benefits all parties. The 21-year-old made a tryscoring debut for Scotland in the recent win over Australia and also appeared as a replacement against South Africa. The Toronto-born forward will spend the rest of the season at Scotstoun after completing a move from Sale Sharks, primarily to provide cover for the injured Fraser Brown. Warriors now have five senior hookers but, with ten games to play before the start of the Six Nations in February, Wilson believes he will need to call on them all at some point. He said: ‘The first (enquiry about Ashman) was a bit of a reaction to Fraser’s injury. Then George (Turner) was in and out and we were light in that position. ‘So Ewan coming in has added huge strength and depth in that area. There’s also the Scotland angle where to have him here training and playing is a benefit to them. So all parties benefit, including him if he gets game time, which he will if he keeps putting in performances like he did in the autumn Tests. ‘It’s a short-term arrangement and we’ll see how it progresses.’ Wilson also revealed he sanctioned Ryan Wilson’s desire to represent the Barbarians against Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday when he saw how much it would mean to the club co-captain. The back-rower has only missed one club match in the past two years but has now been excused from Warriors’ trip to face Benetton on Saturday. Wilson said: ‘First of all, it’s about Ryan. It’s tough as you want him to play every game for us. But we talked long and hard and he showed huge passion about how this could be his last opportunity to do it. I thought he deserved his opportunity.’