O’Halloran eager to put the bite on weakened Sharks

AS GLASGOW Warriors prepare to swim with Sale Sharks, some have suggested it is the Scottish club who are the bigger fish in this particular pond at present.

That is because the English giants will be weakened by the absence of World Cup stars such as South Africa’s Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager, and England’s back-row duo of Tom Curry and Mark Wilson.

De Klerk, Curry and Wilson will sit out Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup opener at Scotstoun as they recover from their exertions in the Far East, while lock De Jager is out with a shoulder injury.

Warriors, on the other hand, are expected to be far closer to full strength.

The absence of De Klerk, in particular, will be keenly felt. Last spotted wandering around in his underpants following the Springboks’ triumph in Japan, the blond bombshell is widely regarded as the best scrum-half in world rugby at the moment.

‘We respect Sale regardless of what team turns up,’ said Warriors’ assistant coach Jason O’Halloran. ‘We look back to Lyon last year (a 21-10 win for Glasgow at Scotstoun) and they had pretty much all second stringers.

‘But other than the first 20 minutes when we scored two tries, it was a ding-dong affair. We’ll be really mindful that Sale will be a really good side regardless of who they pick.

‘As we’ve found in the past, if you give fringe guys a chance, they turn up and play just as well as the established guys.

‘It absolutely sharpens your focus (when opponents are not full strength).

‘If you drop off for a minute and think it’s going to be easier… you saw it at the World Cup that if you’re even two per cent off mentally, you’re going to be heading straight back down the field. You don’t have to be too far off mentally to get a hiding.

‘Every game’s a must-win game if we want to get to where we want to get to. We’ve been comfortable and got a little momentum going, but this is going to be a completely different thing.’

Barring their results against Saracens, Glasgow actually have a decent record against English clubs over recent seasons, bloodying the noses of Bath and Exeter at home, as well as winning home and away against the Leicester Tigers en route to the quarter-finals in 2016-17.

‘It’s a typical sort of a boxer’s punching scenario,’ said O’Halloran. ‘They think they can probably bully us, whereas we think we can outmanoeuvre them with our pace.

‘Regardless of how you want to play the game, the foundation is winning the set-piece and the breakdown area.’

Key to Glasgow’s chances will be the half-back partnership of Scotland’s World Cup pair George Horne and Adam Hastings.

‘Adam and George have been pivotal — really enthusiastic and accurate — and brought a lot of tempo to our game, which was perhaps lacking early-doors in the season,’ said O’Halloran.

‘I thought Ryan (Wilson) was really good at the weekend, Zander (Fagerson) has been fantastic. So, to a man, those (World Cup) guys have brought a real edge.’