New signing Petrus all set to muscle in on Cup battle
TWO negatives have been turned into a super-sized positive by Glasgow Warriors in their recruitment of 19-stones-plus South African prop Petrus du Plessis ahead of Sunday’s European Champions Cup opener against Saracens.
Injuries to international tighthead props Zander Fagerson and Siua Halanukonuka represented a major problem for the Pro14 Conference A leaders but, on joining Glasgow from English Championship side London Irish, the 37-year-old not only fills the breach in their squad, but brings considerable insight into what will be required as not only a former Saracens player but one who twice won the Champions Cup with them.
“I’m not sure if emergency is the right word (but) we’re obviously down our best two tightheads,” explained Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie. “We’re now heading into Europe and we’re only one more thing from being under massive pressure.
“So, Petrus coming in gives us a lot of experience. We know that’s going to be important against a side like Saracens who have the ability to take care of the set-piece and pin you in the corners. We were fortunate to get someone of his quality.”
Since the necessary homework would always have been done on the reigning English champions and current Premiership leaders, Rennie reckoned the veteran’s knowledge of the opposition would only be of limited advantage.
“He’s played a lot of rugby for Saracens,” he said.“The key for us is we need someone who can potentially give us an edge, especially at scrum time. Outside of that, he’s an explosive athlete, he’s a good man, he’s slotted in quickly.
“He’s very professional. He spent a big chunk of last night trying to get his head around a lot of the stuff we’re doing.
“It’s a big week for him. Look, we’ve got a lot of footage of Saracens. We’re pretty clear on the threats they have.
“I’ve no doubt he knows a fair bit about individuals in their team and hopefully that will help him in his role for us, but we’re not leaning too heavily on trying to find out info from him.”
For du Plessis the move clearly represented an opportunity to revive his career at the top level and a chat with ex-Saracens team-mate and former Scotland captain Kelly Brown, who made his name in Glasgow, helped ensure he jumped at it.
“On Thursday evening I got a call from Dave and he was wanting to talk to me about where I am at the moment and what, as he would say, nick I am in, how much I have been playing and what I have been doing,” he said.
“I spoke with Kelly and he had nothing but admiration for Glasgow. He spoke really highly of them and said just as long as I could get my head around the weather. He gave me a lot of insight and it was all true when I got here. I’m thankful for that.”
That he will, on his first competitive involvement with