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Coach finds surprising silver lining in Glasgow’s Murrayfield loss

By PA
Glasgow Warriors' gather after being defeated at the end of the European Rugby Champions Cup, 1st round, day 2, pool 2 match between RC Toulon and Glasgow Warriors at the Mayol stadium in Toulon on December 15, 2024. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Franco Smith has challenged Glasgow to use Saturday’s 10-7 defeat by Edinburgh as fuel for another strong finish to the season.

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As was the case a year previously, Warriors claimed the 1872 Cup despite losing the second leg at Murrayfield.

Last term Glasgow bounced back strongly and went on to claim the United Rugby Championship title in June, and head coach Smith – whose side won the inter-city contest 40-24 on aggregate – expects a similarly strong response this time.

“I want to win everything every day,” said Smith, reflecting on his team’s third URC defeat of the season. “But we’ve lost by one point, three points and four points in this competition, which is tight.

“This time the compliment was with Edinburgh, not necessarily with us not doing what we did. I just think they had answers for all the questions.

“So last year the same thing happened (losing the Murrayfield leg) and it motivated and slingshotted us very well into the 2024 season. So hopefully that is the attitude we’ll take from this loss.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
2
Draws
0
Wins
3
Average Points scored
16
22
First try wins
80%
Home team wins
80%

Glasgow have a week off before returning to action against Racing 92 in the Champions Cup on Friday January 10, when several injured players are due back in contention.

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“The players need to get out of the building for a bit,” said Smith. “We’ve been on it and 23 to 24 players have been involved with Scotland over the November period, which makes it non-stop.

“We’re back in with the two European Cup games and then it’s the Six Nations on top of that, so it’s important for them to have this break and reset a little bit.

“There are a lot of players coming back who will be available.”

Pierre Schoeman popped up with the decisive try for Edinburgh after Glasgow edged themselves in front with a 69th minute penalty try, with the hosts having led 3-0 until that point.

Head coach Sean Everitt was delighted with the character they showed after they were heavily criticised following a 33-14 defeat in the first leg at Hampden, but he acknowledges his inconsistent team must improve their away form if they are to start challenging at the top of the URC.

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“Obviously, it’s frustrating that we can’t do this every week,” he said. “But I’m really proud of how they turned it around because that’s what they’re capable of.

“We have put teams away well at home. But we’ve got to do that away and we’ve got a very big test on that in two weeks’ time against Vannes (in the Challenge Cup).

“Do we want to be languishing between eight and 12, where Edinburgh have been over the last several years on average? Or do we want to be a top eight or a top four team? If so, you’ve got to win away from home.”

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H
Hellhound 7 hours ago
Brett Robinson looks forward to 'monumental' year in 2025

I'm not very hopeful of a better change to the sport. Putting an Aussie in charge after they failed for two decades is just disgusting. What else will be brought in to weaken the game? What new rule changes will be made? How will the game be grown?


Nothing of value in this letter. There is no definitive drive towards something better. Just more of the same as usual. The most successful WC team is getting snubbed again and again for WC's hosting rights. What will make other competitions any different?


My beloved rugby is already a global sport. Why is there no SH team chosen between the Boks, AB's, Wallabies and Fiji? Like a B&I Lions team to tour Europe and America? A team that could face not only countries but also the B&I Lions? Wouldn't that make for a great spectacle that will also bring lots of eyeballs to the sport?


Instead with an Aussie in charge, rugby will become more like rugby league. Rugby will most likely become less global if we look at what have become of rugby in Australia. He can't save rugby in Australia, how will he improve the global footprint of rugby world wide?


I hope to be proven wrong and that he will raise up the sport to new heights, but I am very much in doubt. It's like hiring a gardener to a CEO position in a global company expecting great results. It just won't happen. Call me negative or call me whatever you'd like, Robinson is the wrong man for the job.

3 Go to comments
J
JW 7 hours ago
The Fergus Burke test and rugby's free market

The question that pops into my mind with Fergus Burke, and a few other high profile players in his boots right now, and also many from the past to be fair, is can the club scene start to take over this sentimentality of test footy being the highest level? Take for a moment a current, modern day scenario of Toulouse having a hiccup and failing to make this years Top 14 Final, we could end up seeing the strongest French side in History touring New Zealand next year. Why? Because at any one time they could make up over half the French side, but although that is largely avoided, it is very likely at the national teams detriment with the understanding these players have of playing together likely being stronger than the sum of the best players throughout France selected on marginal calls.


Would the pinnacle of the game really not be reached in the very near future by playing for a team like Toulouse? Burke might have put himself in a position where holding down a starting spot for any nation, but he could be putting himself in the hotbed of a new scene. Clearly he is a player that cherishes International footy as the highest level, and is possibly underselling himself, but really he might just be underselling these other nations he thinks he could represent.

Burke’s decision to test the waters with either England or Scotland has been thrown head-first into the spotlight by the relative lack of competition for the New Zealand 10 shirt.

This is the most illogical statement I've ever read in one of your articles Nick. Burke is behind 3 All Stars of All Black rugby, it might be a indictment of New Zealand rugby but it is abosolutely apparent (he might have even said so himself) why he decided to test the waters.

He mattered because he is the kind of first five-eighth New Zealand finds it most difficult to produce from its domestic set-up: the strategic schemer, the man who sees all the angles and all the bigger potential pictures with the detail of a single play.

Was it not one of your own articles that highlighted the recent All Black nature to select a running, direct threat, first five over the last decade? There are plenty of current players of Burke's caliber and style that simply don't fit the in vogue mode of what Dan Carter was in peoples minds, the five eight that ran at the slightest hole and started out as a second five. The interesting thing I find with that statement though is that I think he is firmly keeping his options open for a return to NZ.

A Kiwi product no longer belongs to New Zealand, and that is the way it is. Great credo or greater con it may be, but the free market is here to stay.

A very shortsighted and simplistic way to end a great article. You simply aren't going to find these circumstances in the future. The migration to New Zealand ended in 1975, and as that generation phases out, so too will the majority of these ancestry ties (in a rugby context) will end. It would be more accurate to say that Fergus Burke thought of himself as the last to be able to ride this wave, so why not jump on it? It is dying, and not just in the interests or Scottish of English fans.

51 Go to comments
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