Smith excited to give Walker his chance but urges caution over expectations
GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Franco Smith is urging caution as prop Murphy Walker prepares for his first appearance of the season against the Bulls in Pretoria.
The 24-year-old Scotland internationalist has been hit by a number of injuries, and has hardly featured since Smith took over as head coach two years ago.
But he’ll start at Loftus Versfeld in a side that shows 11 changes from the win over Zebre two weeks ago.
“We’re very excited to have him back and he is very excited to contribute,” Smith said. “The benefit of him not being able to play for a long time allowed him to physically develop well. He’s worked hard in various components of his body composition and hopefully he can now hit the ground running.
“I’ve got huge amount of faith in what the medical team and the S&C [strength and conditioning] team did in preparation to get him performance ready. I’m looking forward to seeing him back there and contributing.”
Asked if Walker could become a long-term challenger for Zander Fagerson’s starting berth, Smith urged caution.
“We mustn’t get overexcited,” the
Glasgow coach said. “Let him start playing first. Any extra pressure on his performance might limit his ability to grow. He’s got a long way to go. Zander is close to 70 Test matches and it is going to take Murphy time to catch up to that. For now he needs to find his feet again in our environment. He has to just find his rhythm, find his way and stay injury-free is our first objective.”
Jamie Bhatti also returns from injury in the front row in a completely new pack from the win in Parma, while hooker Grant Stewart will make his 50th appearance for the club as he steps in for the injured Gregor Hiddleston.
Smith explained the hooker picked up a calf problem in the closing stages of the win over Zebre.
He said: “With George Turner not being available and Fraser out I
didn’t want to risk anybody else. With Johnny [Matthews] recovering [on the bench], we decided to leave him [Hiddleston] out.
“Hopefully, nothing will happen next week and it’ll give him three weeks to get back to fitness.”
He is one of 12 players unavailable to the Warriors for a clash that could go a long way to determining where they finish the URC season.
Those injuries mean Gregor Brown – normally a flanker – has been selected in the second row alongside Scott Cummings, with the international trio of Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey making up the loose forwards.
“He did extremely well last week coming on against Zebre,” Smith added. “He’s a very good ball carrier. He’s going to climb in there, then with Max [Williamson, on the bench] and Scott Cummings to close out the game for us hopefully.
“We have a strategy to manage the altitude and the energy levels of the boys and for him to go out and set the tone high is important. He has really put his hand up for that responsibility.”
Behind the scrum, there is a new half-back pairing as George Horne and Tom Jordan replace Jamie Dobie and Ross Thompson, who again drops out of the XXIII altogether with Duncan Weir preferred on the bench. The four players who keep their places are all in the threequarters: centre pairing Sione Tuipulotu and Stafford McDowall, captain Kyle Steyn on the right wing and full-back Josh McKay.
The other change sees Argentina winger Sebastian Cancelliere return in place of Kyle Rowe, and Smith is looking forward to the battle between his international wingers and the Bulls’ Springbok pairing of Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
“I think it’s a good match-up,” he added. “Seb’s international career and the way he’s been going about his business will challenge the opponents, and Kyle is an experienced campaigner. We’re optimistic we can stick to what we want to do so they must adapt to that.”