The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Turner expects an even more attacking Warriors
Given that the going is always good to firm for the thoroughbreds at Scotstoun, George Turner expects even more attacking play from the Glasgow Warriors as they seek to complete a 10-point job over Lyon in the Heineken Champions’ Cup, writes Steve Scott.
Buoyed by their 42-22 win in the Stade Gerland at the weekend, hooker Turner – called into action after only 14 minutes and completing the job after an injury to Fraser Brown – said the Warriors were actually slowed down in their five-try, full cylinder performance.
“We do lots of stats here about speed and stuff like that,” said Turner, speaking of the monitors every player carries between his shoulder blades that record fitness levels.
“Across the board on Saturday everyone’s speed stats were down because of the heavy pitch.
“It was heavy on the legs at times, but we still did all right.
“We play a really fast game here at Scotstoun and it’s easier on the legs, but that might well suit Lyon too – they like to play a bit of rugby as well.
“They’ll be pretty annoyed that they got well beaten on their home patch, and they might do something fun.”
Five tries away from home and a win in France – Turner’s first experience of playing there – sounds pretty decent but the Warriors believe there’s much room for improvement.
“There were a lot of mistakes – a few turnovers and a lot of penalties,” he said.
“Our discipline is going to be really important. And even though we scored a few tries, we left a few out there, so we want to work on our accuracy.
“We ran the structure well and we played our shape, but there were times when we kicked the ball away when it was maybe on to run. Hopefully we’ll have more chances and we’ll take them this weekend.
“It definitely bodes well that after those kinds of performances we’re still not entirely happy.
“It’s always been great to win away, but we know we can do better.”
Discipline was the key point of the review, as Glasgow went well into double figures on offences spotted by Matt Carley compared to recent games when they’ve kept it well below 10 a game.
“We talked about it in the team meeting,” he said. “We showed a few that were silly penalties – I did one in the side of the maul.
“They came in batches as well – when we were struggling we did two or three in a row.
“I don’t know, maybe it was with players coming back and being a bit frustrated.
“They were a good team and stressed us at times, but we’ll look to shore that up on Saturday.”
Glasgow also announced their second signing of the week with 20-year-old Stafford McDowall getting his first senior contract after impressing in his outings this season.
The imposing former Stewartry centre – at 6ft 4in and more than 100kg he could be a pretty decent back row forward – played three times during the November international window in handsome victories over Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets.
Last year’s Scotland Under-20 captain has been earmarked by head coach Dave Rennie for big things.
“Stafford got limited opportunities with us last year but impressed us with his skill-set and work ethic and has earned the opportunities he’s got this season.
“He’s a big man with the ability to carry through contact, he’s incredibly fit and his distribution and kicking skills are also of real quality.
“He really impressed us during the international window, he looked really comfortable in the jersey and was never overawed by the opposition.
“We think he’s got a big future ahead of him.”