Glasgow skipper Ryan Wilson battling to be fit for 1872 Cup doubleheader

RUGBY: Wilson may miss Edinburgh clashes after being forced off three times

Battered and bruised skipper Ryan Wilson faces a race to be fit for Glasgow Warriors’ 1872 Cup festive showdown with Edinburgh.

And with several other frontline Warriors nursing injuries in the wake of their latest Euro nightmare, boss Dave Rennie could be left with a major selection headache for Murrayfield on Saturday.

Captain courageous Wilson was forced off three times during the defeat at the Altrad Stadium.

First, he struggled to breathe after being floored by an elbow in his throat.

Then docs had to stitch up a head-gash. Finally, he limped off with a damaged ankle.

Boss Dave Rennie tried to play down Wilson’s problems by saying: “He’s got a few bumps and bruises and we will have to wait and see about next week.

“He was moving around in the dressing room, but we’ll make the call in a few days.

“Matches like these are very physical when it means a lot to both teams – that’s all part of it.”

Rennie refused to be drawn on the circumstances that caused the blow to the throat and would only state: “We will leave that to the citing commissioner.”

Like the first Champions Cup clash between the sides the previous weekend, Rennie’s men could have snatched the glory.

He added: “We have a record of nil from four in terms of wins from our campaign. That doesn’t reflect the amount of effort the boys have put into it.

“We have been in close contention in every match. We are a much better team than the sequence of results has shown.”

Rennie went on: “Again, we made a lot of line breaks and created a lot of opportunities. But we just failed to nail a couple of them. We’ve just got to be a little bit more clinical when it counts.”

The coach admitted he will probably use the final two pool games against Leinster and Exeter as opportunities to blood fresh talent at the upper level.

He said: “I’ll be honest, what’s important is that we keep trucking in Pro14. It’s going to be irrelevant if we win one or win two in this Champions Cup, so we may use it to find out a bit more about other guys. However, we won’t lie down in those games.”

Glasgow had led at the interval thanks to tries from Fraser Brown, Peter Horne and Nick Grigg.

But two breakaway scores in quick succession after the break turned the tide. Sub George Horne snapped up the other Warriors effort.

Picture: SNS Group. Ryan Wilson suffered injuries to his throat, head and ankle against Montpellier.