West proved to be best when opportunity knocked for Turner
IN the summer of 2017 George Turner was in a unique position within Scottish rugby. By moving from Edinburgh to Glasgow Warriors he could improve his chances of getting playing time and, in turn, advancement to the national squad.
Turner’s route to developing his potential was being blocked in the capital team by three other hookers – Ross Ford, the most-capped player in Scottish history, Stuart McInally, who has since gone on to captain the national team, and the highly experienced Neil Cochrane.
With less pressure on Fraser Brown, the first-choice hooker at Scotstoun, Turner wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity that presented itself after moving.
Having made a solitary Pro12 start in three seasons at Edinburgh, Turner made four for Glasgow in September alone, playing on winning sides on every occasion.
He performed so well that a Test debut was to follow in Scotland’s win over Samoa. He then rattled in a rare Test hat-trick of tries against Canada last summer.
With McInally and Brown available, he did not manage to add to his cap haul this autumn but has played plenty of rugby.
“I didn’t get a cap from Scotland, but it was a good experience and I trained the whole time and came back and played some good rugby for Glasgow,” he said.
And last weekend Turner, at the age of 26, was given yet another new experience.
“It was my first game in France,” he said of the trip to Lyon where Glasgow secured a 42-22 victory in the Champions Cup tie. “It was a really good game … a bit messy for us sometimes, but overall pretty good.”
On Saturday, the Warriors and Lyon will battle, but this time at Scotstoun.
And discipline will be paramount, says Turner.
“There were a lot of mistakes, a few turnovers and a lot of penalties. Our discipline is going to be really important,” said Turner. “We talked about it in the team meeting. We looked at a few that were silly penalties. I did one in the side of the maul and they came in batches as well. When we were struggling we did two or three in a row.
“They were a good team and stressed us at times. But we’ll look to shore that up next time.”