ULTIMATE WARRIORS
Glasgow stars revel in the afterglow of Leicester triumph
IT WAS only one European Champions Cup win but what a win it was. No wonder Glasgow Warriors prop Gordon Reid senses this could be the year his team finally make their mark in the tournament after years of frustration. The Scotland internationalist played a major part in the openingday five-try bonus-point romp over Leicester Tigers in Glasgow’s finest 80 minutes since they moved to Scotstoun six years ago.
In front of a sell-out crowd of more than 7,300, the atmosphere was electric with the man who was playing his 100th game for the club a stand-out in the 42-13 victory.
Reid could have capped a nearperfect performance with a try but let the ball slip through his fingers with the line at his mercy.
Despite the error, he is sure to retain his place at loose-head against Munster next Saturday. Win that and he knows his team will be on course to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup for the first time in their history.
‘Every year we say we need to qualify in Europe and never do, but this time we feel with the team we’ve got we can,’ said Reid. ‘We have to seize the moment this year as there could be changes at the club next season with the new coach coming in, maybe players leaving, so we have to make the most of our good start in Europe.
‘We head to Munster next and it is a horrible place to go. We know them really well because we play them in the Pro12, but they are a different dog in Europe.
‘They have won the European Cup twice, so we’ll have to go out there and give our all and, hopefully, do as well across in Ireland as we did against Leicester.’
Glasgow can expect another real physical test but the big prop believes they have nothing to fear in that department after out-muscling Leicester from start to finish.
What had helped fire-up Reid and his team-mates were suggestions that had reached the Glasgow dressing room beforehand that Leicester had been bragging of how they were going to ‘bully’ them in the forward department.
That never came close to happening with players like Reid, Tim Swinson, Zander Fagerson and Josh Strauss monstering them at the scrum and hitting them hard in open play.
‘We want to be the best in Europe and it hurts us sometimes when we get put down like when we heard Leicester were saying they were going to dominate us in the pack,’ said the prop. ‘It irritated us a wee bit, so we just wanted to go out there and give our all, which we did.
‘We knew they were coming up here to give us a good battle in the scrum, but they also thought they could put one over on us up front but they didn’t because of our play.’
The man who started his career playing amateur rugby for Ayr believes the way all the Glasgow players piled in to defend Finn
Russell when he was tiptackled by Australian international Matt Toomua after just 13 minutes showed how fired up they were, with the incident helping turn the match their way.
‘When one person goes down, we’re all in to support him,’ added Reid. ‘That just shows you what kind of team we actually are.
‘The Leicester player was quite lucky to get just a yellow card for that tackle on Finn but the referee’s there to make a decision, so we can only do what the referee says.
‘That incident, though, was one of the turning points as to be fair to Leicester maybe they did bully us in the first 10 minutes but what happened to Finn changed things.
‘They were here for a game, here for a fight. That incident gave us the kind of kick we needed and we pushed on from there.
‘As a prop, there’s nothing better than a wee fight, a bit of fisticuffs. It brings me back to my days at Ayr.
‘Finn’s a hardy wee man and he kept going for the rest of the game despite that tackle and was superb for us.’
Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend praised the way Reid played in his 100th appearance for the team and deserved the standing ovation he got when he came off with 14 minutes left.
‘Gordon has been a great servant for the club and that was a great performance for him out there,’ said Townsend. ‘He was one of our top players in what was a great result and a fantastic start to our European campaign.
‘To deny Leicester a bonus point and score a maximum five points ourselves was very good but we could have been much better. I am frustrated with a few things and a few of our attack plays didn’t come off.
‘I put the blame for that on my coaching rather than the players as I obviously didn’t get my message across to them.
‘I will be working on how to improve that aspect of our game before we go to Munster. There is more to come from this team and we have to up our performance across in Ireland.’
The Warriors head coach praised Russell for the way he came back after the dangerous tackle on him and chose his words carefully on whether he thought it should have been a red.
‘It was a dangerous tackle,’ said Townsend. ‘By the law, because he didn’t land on his head, it wasn’t a red card, but the only reason he didn’t land on his head was because Finn put his arm out.
‘It could have been a red, but it didn’t affect the outcome. Finn got straight up and that was great to see and he should be fine to play against Munster if selected.’