Humphreys says ‘buzz’ generated by Scotland is major boost for Glasgow
● Former national forwards coach has slight regret over Wallaby walloping
“The whole buzz around Scottish rugby is amazing. I’ll take you back to four years ago and you’d never dream that it would be like this” JONATHAN HUMPHREYS
Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys admitted he had some pangs of regret at not being involved in Saturday’s sensational 53-24 victory over Australia but said it was a result the whole of Scottish rugby feels a part of.
Humphreys moved from the Scotland set-up to Glasgow when Gregor Townsend took over the national team and he and attack coach Jason O’halloran, who made a similar switch, have been enjoying the day-to-day coaching at club level. The Welshman was part of Vern Cotter’s staff, who laid down so many good foundations for Townsend to build on but was flying down to Swansea for Glasgow’s game at Ospreys on Sunday, which they won 47-6, as the amazing scenes unfolded at BT Murrayfield.
“Yeah, there is,” said Humphreys when asked if there were feelings of missing being involved with Scotland on such a memorable day. “But for me the whole buzz around Scottish rugby is amazing.
“I’ll take you back to four years ago and you’d never dream that it would be like this. The more successful the national team are, the more successful Glasgow are.
“The more successful Glasgow are – and Edinburgh – the more successful the national team is. The feeding off each other is brilliant.”
There were no updates on the Glasgow trio who were hit by injury blows last week. Centre Alex Dunbar had to pull out of the Australia game after failing to pass the concussion return to play protocols, full-back Stuart Hogg suffered a hip problem in the warm-up on Saturday and hooker Fraser Brown, who is just back from a knee injury, was forced off after coming on as a replacement. “We’re still waiting on them passing some tests,” said Humphreys. “We’re still waiting on confirmation of a few things.
“There’s a few [Scotland] players who can’t [play this weekend], but those boys who haven’t had a lot of game time could be available to us.
Glasgow welcome Cardiff Blues to Scotstoun on Friday night looking to make it a perfect ten in the Guinness Pro14 and Humphreys admitted the way the much-changed team stepped up in Swansea has provided another surge of positivity through the club.
“We were obviously very, very pleased,” he said of the Ospreys win. “It’s what we talked about right at the very start, that any success we get in this league will be going down to somewhere like the ospreys when the internationals are on, and during the Six Nations. We’re delighted not just with the win, but with the attitude of the boys down there.”
Humphreys paid tribute to Ruaridh Jackson, who came off the bench for Scotland on Saturday after being promoted due to Hogg’s setback before travelling down to start for the Warriors at the Liberty Stadium. “It’s awesome. He’s been unbelievable for us,” said the assistant coach. “It didn’t go unnoticed that he could have been up there celebrating but he wanted to come down and help us out.”
Scrum-half George Horne, who scored two tries at the Ospreys, will be hoping to maintain his fine form on Friday. “Yeah, it has been a good start for me, really fun,” said the 22-year-old. “That’s five tries I’ve managed now in three starts, so it has been really good. A lot of the tries have come from set-plays we’ve worked on in training, so it’s really satisfying to see that pay off and the team are reaping the benefits of it.”
It was a good weekend all round for the Horne family, with older brother Peter playing in the famous win over the Wallabies. “Unfortunately, we were flying while the Scotland game was on. But my mum and dad were there and I’ve been able to watch it back with Pete,” said the younger Horne.
“It was a great weekend for them – Scotland were just incredible. Then we were able to get a good results on Sunday with Glasgow, so we were pretty chuffed with what was a great weekend for the family.”