Warriors up for fight on both fronts
Wilson eyes URC and Europe
DANNY WILSON has challenged his Glasgow Warriors players to stand up and deliver in what he has billed as ‘crunch time’ in their season. The Warriors are set to embark on a huge run of fixtures, starting with Friday night’s trip to Kingston Park to face Newcastle Falcons in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup.
From there, they will head to South Africa for a potentially pivotal double-header with the Stormers and the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship.
They will then round off their URC fixtures with a derby against Edinburgh as they look to cement their place in the top four and book a home quarter-final.
It may well be a period which defines Glasgow’s season — and Wilson has told his players to prove they can perform when the heat is on.
‘We’re now moving into the business end of the season and I could talk about the improvements we’ve made,’ said Wilson. ‘We’ve now been a top-four side (in the URC) for the majority of the season.
‘In the league, we’ve had a brilliant home record, winning everything bar the Leinster game.
‘We’ve dramatically improved our discipline from what was a problem area in the past, so there have been some huge steps forward.
‘We’ve developed the squad in terms of both recruitment and from within. Now we’re coming to crunch time and the next steps for us are that we need to go to South Africa and get a result, I believe.
‘We need to be able to win these last three games to give ourselves a home play-off. The league is so tight.
‘There are only three games to go and it’s extremely tight. I’m pleased we’ve made big progressions from last season, but we know there are bigger steps on the journey.
‘I said to the boys the other day that if we really want to be contenders for silverware at the business end of the season, we have to perform and get the results. But we’ve got Newcastle first. An away game is a big challenge for us, one we are excited about and looking forward to.
‘If we can go there and put our best foot forward, we’ll hopefully give ourselves a good chance.
‘It is quite a short preparation (with the draw only being made on Sunday night). A little bit of a waiting game to find out who we were playing.
‘Normally you have a week or two, but it is the same challenge for them that it is for us.
‘We played them in pre-season (Newcastle won 12-7), but there’s a big difference between a pre-season friendly and a European knockout game.’
Wilson is buoyed by the fact that he now has a full squad from which to select, with the Scotland contingent now past their post-Six Nations rest protocols.
The squad is likely to be fully loaded for the trip to face a Newcastle side who languish third from bottom in the Premiership.
But Newcastle have been hot and cold, with big wins against the likes of Leicester and Worcester in recent weeks despite their lowly league position.
Warriors might well go into the match as favourites, somewhat of a rarity for any Scottish side going away from home against a Premiership club. Wilson said: ‘I’m seeing us going away from home as underdogs. We respect how dangerous a side Newcastle can be. They have proved that several times.
‘Personnel-wise, they have some really dangerous players and they’ve had some big wins this season.
‘They have some really dangerous outside backs. They have Mike Brown if he’s fit, and Adam Radwan, who is electric, one of the fastest players I’ve seen.
‘They have a decent pack with a couple of very strong hookers, one of whom (Jamie Blamire) is in the England set-up at the moment.
‘They have a dangerous back row who are hard over the ball and jackal well. They have a decent team and they’ve won a few games in the Premiership, a tough league.
‘At home, I’m sure they’ll be very up for playing in front of their own crowd. Part of our journey is to go away from home and be more clinical and more ruthless.
‘I think we showed that at home against Zebre when we bounced back with a display of sticking to tasks and being ruthless. We need to now show that on the road.
‘But we will stay focused on us. We have shown we are a bit patchy on the road, so that’s definitely a challenge.’