RENNIE RISK
Glasgow coach snubs Wilson in favour of Ashe for crunch European clash at Lyon
Glasgow warriors head coach Dave Rennie has defended his decision not to include co-captain Ryan wilson in his matchday squad for today’s vital Heineken Champions Cup tie against lyon.
The experienced back-row was one of the few players to take part in all four of scotland’s November Tests, starting the first three against wales, Fiji and south africa before coming off the bench in the final match against argentina.
Rennie rested wilson last week for the guinness Pro14 game against scarlets to give him time to recover, with a view to him coming back in for the trip to take on the French outfit.
However, after warriors defeated the welsh side despite playing with just 14 men for much of the game, the Kiwi boss had a rethink.
In particular, adam ashe’s recent performances at six were simply too good to overlook and with wilson’s co-captain Callum gibbins coming back on the other flank and rising star Matt Fagerson at No 8, there was simply no room in the starting XV for the 29-year-old.
‘Ryan isn’t injured — it is just that adam ashe has been outstanding for us over the last few weeks,’ said Rennie. ‘we were also obviously keen to bring Matt Fagerson back in and both those boys have really good footwork.
‘They give us very good go-forwards and carry. Both are explosive and they both defend really well. we just really wanted to reward that, so Ryan misses out this week.
‘My decision is based on form. Ryan’s played well for scotland but what we know that, within those loose forwards, they’ll have to share the load and we wanted a specialist seven on the bench in Chris Fusaro knowing that Rob Harley can move from lock to six if we have a couple of injuries there.
‘so unfortunately Ryan misses out but as co-captain he’s been outstanding, he’s contributed massively to the preparation and I’ve been really impressed by him. It shows we’ve created good depth.
‘we had a lot of discussions around the loose-forward mix and we’re happy with what we came up with. This is the side we’ve ended up settling on.’
lyon are currently bottom of Pool Three after the first two games and know a defeat to warriors would end their European ambitions this season.
Indeed, a loss for the home side would bode well in more ways than one for Rennie, with the chance that lyon might then send a weakened team to scotstoun the week after for the return.
‘I’m not going to try to anticipate their thinking but what we know is that they are a very strong side at home,’ continued Rennie.
‘If we can win this game, then maybe they will place more importance on their domestic competition.’
He is, of course, not taking anything for granted. and given glasgow’s recent record in Europe, Rennie will be looking to ensure his side are prepared for anything.
‘obviously, we play on a hard, fast surface at scotstoun and I don’t think we will get that at lyon,’ he said.
‘It will be a bit more muggy so conditions will be a bit different, so that change of surface also came into my team selection in terms of who would go better on it.
‘we are mindful that they offload more than any side in the competition. They have some unbelievable athletes.
‘Charlie Ngatai, who I’ve had a lot to do with over the last five or six years (they were at Chiefs together in New Zealand), is a high-quality player, a world-class midfielder. lyon are a big side, very skilful, so we still want to play a game that is quick. ‘But we will have to bring a high level of physicality to get the ball we want.’ last season was Rennie’s first competing in Europe and it didn’t end well. glasgow finished bottom of their group with a total of just six points after one win and one losing bonus point in six games. leinster, who went on to win the Champions Cup, won the group with 27 points after not losing a game. ‘Hopefully, we have shown evidence of what we have learned from last year in our first two European games this season,’ said Rennie. ‘our ability to look after the ball has been a massive focus for us, as has our ability to go multi-phase. There was good evidence of that last week in our league win over scarlets.
‘In Europe, you need to have a strong set-piece, so we have worked really hard and our forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys has done a great job around our maul and our scrum.
‘To be competitive in this competition, you need to be strong up front. Then it’s about being accurate and relentless in our attack.
‘I think we have defended a lot better this season. I think we can be better still, but denying opportunities to the opposition are massive.
‘we will also have to keep our discipline against lyon. our discipline has been excellent recently with the penalty count against scarlets last weekend being 17-6.
‘we’ve had a string of games where we have been penalised less than ten times. That’s important against the big sides who can put you in the corner and hurt you.
‘we’re happy with the shifts we’ve made in those areas and will be looking for them to continue against lyon.’