Warriors hit with triple injury blow for cup ties
THE Glasgow squad for the Rainbow Cup will be significantly depleted as a result of injuries to three key players. Huw Jones is expected to miss all of the competition, which begins for the Warriors with a visit to Benetton a week today, while Adam Hastings and Scott Cummings will be out of action for several weeks.
Jones, who is leaving Scotstoun at the end of the season, therefore appears to have played his last game for the team. The centre-cum-full-back has had surgery on a foot injury he sustained in the Challenge Cup match against Montpellier.
Lock forward Cummings has also had surgery, in his case on a hand which he injured while playing against Ireland in the Six Nations. And stand-off Hastings has a facial fracture from that Montpellier match.
However, the Warriors squad will be boosted for the tournament by the early arrival from Edinburgh of Rory Darge. The 21-year-old back-row forward had agreed to move in time for the start of next season along with Edinburgh team-mates Ally Miller and Simon Berghan, but will now be available to play for Glasgow in next month’s derby double-header as well as in the Benetton match and subsequent Rainbow Cup encounters.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh second-row Fraser McKenzie has announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect on medical advice. A former captain of the team, the 33-year-old has been out of action for 14 months due to a succession of shoulder injuries.
McKenzie initially joined the club’s academy programme as an 18-year-old in 2006, and retires having made 119 appearances for Edinburgh over two spells with the team. He also played in the English Premiership for three seasons from 2011, first for Sale then for Newcastle.