Miller has summer tour in sights as he thanks Smith for trust
ALLY MILLER admits the trust shown in him from Glasgow coach Franco Smith has helped him reach the best levels of his career.
The 27-year-old was called in to train with the Scotland squad during the Six Nations and he has now signed a new two-year contract with Warriors.
It has been his most impressive season with 11 appearances, as well as scoring his first two tries for the club against Bayonne and Edinburgh.
There are a lot of big games to come for the rest of the season, starting with Friday night’s trip to London to face Harlequins at the Stoop.
A big part of Glasgow’s impressive form has been Smith’s ability to rotate his squad without any noticeable drop off. Players know they will get their chance if they work hard in training and Miller believes this is why they can go far in the URC and in Europe.
He said: “It’s been about getting ourselves in a good position going into the business end of the season.
“Getting that trust from Franco throughout the whole squad has been great. It’s not just been me, there are guys like Henco Venter, Euan Ferrie and Tom Gordon putting their hand up when they get an opportunity.
“We know the quality coming back from the Six Nations camp. Going into big games, you want that high level of competition in a squad and we’ll be driving each other on. I’ve been quite fortunate to be involved most weekends, even if that’s being rotated from the bench up to the starting team.
“It’s great to have that confidence that he does trust the whole squad. We put a big emphasis on training during the week, so if you train well you’ve got a good shout of getting into the 15 or 23 for the weekend.”
Miller has been at Scotstoun since 2021 having played for Edinburgh and London Scottish. A back injury kept him out of action for a lot of last season and he credits hard work for making much more of an impact this time around.
Now he has got Scotland’s tour of the Americas in his sights for the summer with games against Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay.
Being involved with Scotland during the Six Nations has whetted his appetite for the tour and he is hopeful he can continue to catch coach Gregor Townsend’s eye with his form for Glasgow.
“I’ve got another two years so I’m excited to have signed the deal and be hanging about Scotstoun for another couple of seasons,” he said.
“I’ve had a good stretch of games since the start of the season, so I’ve been able to build a bit of momentum. I’m enjoying working with Franco and the team so it’s paid off. I don’t know if I would call it a breakthrough year. It’s been more about getting my head down and working hard.
“I had a back op at the start of last season and had an extended period off, but I always knew what I was good at so I stuck to that side of the game. It’s been more about building a bit of momentum, and I’ve had the reward from that.
“It [Scotland] was good fun. I went in for a couple of weeks’ training and it was good to get into that environment. Obviously I know quite a lot of the lads having been across at Edinburgh as well as Glasgow and the sevens, so it was good to catch up with some old faces.
“It was good to pick up some details and just rub shoulders with guys who are used to being in that environment. That was brilliant, really beneficial. It’s a different focus. They’re obviously trying to get that top-end execution every week. Here at Scotstoun, you’re building over a longer period, we’re in training every week all year.
“It was good to see that fine-tuning that goes on in the national camp. The margins are tiny at that level. If you look at the campaigns they’ve had, it’s tiny margins, and that’s where they are trying to develop.”
When asked about his ambitions of being part of the Scotland squad for the summer tour, he said: “One hundred per cent. That is the goal. You want to represent your country, so there is a bit of a carrot there for me for sure.”