We’ll learn our lessons for Leinster

Glasgow head coach calls on players to replicate start against Ospreys

GLASGOW Warriors head coach Danny Wilson has challenged his team to reproduce the first- half performance they offered against the Ospreys last weekend for the full 80 minutes of this coming Monday’s match against Leinster.

That is easier said than done against the team which has dominated the PRO14 in recent seasons, with a squad depth which no other side in the competition can hope to match, but Wilson insists that his players have embraced the steep learning curve they are on and will relish the opportunity to test themselves against the best.

“You’ve got to remember that for 10 of our players that Ospreys game was their first real rugby in seven months,” he pointed out. “We had a group of players who had two games against Edinburgh, a game against Connacht and a game against the Scarlets to get up to pace, and around a dozen of them have now disappeared off to play international rugby, leaving a new crop of players coming through with different combinations, who haven’t been playing much rugby at all.

“So, what we probably knew would happen was that we would blow up a little bit in terms of not having that game time under our belt, and that’s exactly what happened.”

“But now they’ve had a few days to recover, and because it is a Monday game we could do that and still have a full week training. Wednesday will be our big day of training, while our big day last week was cancelled [ because of a positive Covid test in the squad], so that will stand us in good stead as well. All those little things are so important to preparation.”

It is not just that the players currently at Wilson’s disposal are undercooked in terms of recent game time, for a number of them it is a whole new level of rugby, but the coach is encouraged by how they are coping with being thrown in at the deep end.

“Young Jamie Dobie is 19 years old and what a player that boy is going to be,” he marvelled. “Plenty of people have told me, and I’ve seen it in the flesh ... for 40 minutes he was outstanding against Ospreys.

“He died off a little bit, but what are we expecting here? That’s part of the process. For him to play the way he did for 40 minutes at 19 years old is some statement to make, and it is exciting for Glasgow and Scotland.

“Likewise, for Hamish Bain, it was his first game at that level and we didn’t have a second- row on the bench due to the situation we are in at the moment, so he has to stay out there as long as he could. I thought he did really well for his first hit- out at that level, but he also tired quite dramatically.

“The key for me is that I have learned about Jamie Dobie and Hamish Bain, and I’m starting to learn about different combinations moving forward.

“What we are not stepping away from is that it was a poor performance in the second half, but I’m seeing it in the light it was in, which was a first hit- out for a long time for a number of players who died off as the game wore on.”