Under-pressure Wilson urges Glasgow fans to keep the faith

DANNY WILSON insists he’s still the right man for the job at Glasgow Warriors — and has promised there will be an upturn in fortunes next season.

Glasgow go into next weekend’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final away at Leinster desperately short of form after four straight defeats.

The 28-11 derby loss to Edinburgh last weekend, in particular, prompted an outpouring of anger from many supporters on social media. There is a growing concern that the club have failed to make any tangible progress since Wilson replaced Dave Rennie in the summer of 2020.

But, with another year left to run on his contract, he is adamant that the club is still moving in the right direction.

‘I understand that social media will respond to a derby loss when so much was on the game,’ said Wilson.

‘I take responsibility as head coach. That was a game they (the fans) and we were all very disappointed to lose.

‘But I also look at the fact that 80 per cent of this season, we have made some big strides and we are in a really good position.

‘The league is becoming tougher and tougher with the South African sides in it, and we’ve been top four the majority of the year. The only two sides that have beaten us at home are the two sides that contested the European Cup final (Leinster and La Rochelle), so our home record has been outstanding this year.

‘Where we need to improve is, obviously, getting games done on the road — we are performing well in parts of games on the road but we’re not consistently enough winning those games.’

Glasgow will be massive underdogs when they travel to Ireland next weekend to face a Leinster side who lost 24-21 in yesterday’s Champions Cup final.

But, despite the Warriors being hampered by a lengthy injury list, Wilson is determined to upset the odds and cause a shock.

‘The top end of the league is tight and difficult to get into,’ he said. ‘That means any side on their day who are in that top eight can be dangerous. That applies to us as well. We’ve had some big wins in the past where we’ve been underdogs. Beating Exeter this season would be an example.

‘We took La Rochelle pretty close as well away from home. We beat Leinster at home last season when we were underdogs.

‘But we’re not hiding away from the last four or five games. We need to bounce back from that performance against Edinburgh because it wasn’t up to our standard.’