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Glasgow react to speculation George Turner is quitting for Japan
By Bryn Palmer
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith has refused to confirm or deny speculation linking Scotland’s first-choice hooker George Turner with a possible move to Japan. The 31-year-old is believed to have been offered a one-year deal to join Kobelco Kobe Steelers, the Japan Rugby League One outfit coached by former Warriors head coach Dave Rennie.
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If he takes up the offer, the front-rower would miss Scotland’s four Autumn Nations Series internationals and the 2025 Guinness Six Nations, potentially jeopardising his chances of making next year’s British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.
Turner has started 15 of the Scots’ last 18 internationals since the start of 2023, including every Six Nations game for the past two campaigns. His departure would also likely force Glasgow into the transfer market with the experienced Fraser Brown also announcing his retirement this week after failing to recover from a serious knee injury.
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“Discussions are still going on, apparently,” said Smith when asked if Turner was weighing up his options against a probable counter-offer from Scottish Rugby. “I can’t confirm or deny anything. I’m definitely sure they have had conversations, that I can tell you.
“What exactly has been said, I’m trying to keep that away from the team at the moment. As George is injured and not in our daily environment as often, we don’t speak much about what is happening next. That’s conversations for one floor above me.”
Turner is currently recovering from a foot fracture sustained during the tail-end of Scotland’s Six Nations campaign, which was only diagnosed on his return to the Warriors.
Smith said the hooker should be fit “more or less” in time for the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals in early June, with Glasgow currently in second place and in prime position to clinch a home tie in the play-offs with four games of the regular season remaining.
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He also had a positive bulletin on Johnny Matthews, the other frontline hooker on Glasgow’s books who is the leading try-scorer in the URC this season with 13. Matthews, along with prop Oli Kebble, was forced off with an ankle injury in last Friday’s 21-10 over Sharks at Scotstoun, but Smith reported that “both of them are not that serious”.
“Johnny can be shorter-term, it just depends on the clinical improvement,” he said. “Oli is already out of the boot and walking around, so he will be back training on Monday. We will assess Johnny and then see what the protocol is, but he is making good progress. Neither of them is as bad as we thought originally.”
With Brown, Turner and Matthews all sidelined and a fourth hooker, Angus Fraser, picking up a head knock in an A-team game this week, new recruit Grant Stewart will go straight onto the bench for this Saturday’s trip to face bottom-side Zebre in Parma, with the inexperienced Gregor Hiddleston starting the game.
Stewart, who won three Scotland caps as a replacement off the bench in warm-up Tests before the 2019 World Cup, was released by Warriors in 2022. After spells with Connacht and Ayrshire Bulls in the Super Series, he has been training with Glasgow again for the past five months and was rewarded this week with a new two-year contract.
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“I watched the (PRO14) game against Leinster in the 2019 final where he scored a very good try,” Smith explained. “I thought this guy had just been mismanaged for a while and let’s get him into our environment.
“That was five months ago and he bought into it after struggling a little bit initially with a calf injury. We integrated him and he has been throwing every week for us. He has lost a lot of weight, he got back in shape and is looking really good, so I’m really happy.”
"We've been playing well in our last couple of games of the URC; we're looking to build on the momentum."
Listen to watch Ross Thompson had to say after Captain's Run today as we travel to Zebre this weekend ?#WhateverItTakes | @MackenzieConstr pic.twitter.com/Tu06vTasxL
— Glasgow Warriors (@GlasgowWarriors) April 26, 2024
Smith was more guarded about the future of fly-half Ross Thompson, who will make only his fifth start of the season on Saturday against Zebre. With Adam Hastings returning to Scotstoun from Gloucester this summer, Tom Jordan also established as a frontline No10 and veteran Duncan Weir poised to extend his contract, the 25-year-old Thompson could be poised to move on to pastures new.
While Smith has rotated Thompson, Weir and Jordan over Warriors’ past six games to ensure all three “are well oiled in our machine” heading into the business end of the season, Ben Healy has started 19 of Edinburgh’s 20 matches this season and played every minute of their 14 URC games.
With a clear imbalance in No10 resources between the two Scottish rivals, it would be no surprise if Thompson was to head east across the M8 this summer to kick-start a career stalled by injury. “We want the best for all the players here,” Smith added.
“About next season, we are currently focused on what we need to do. I’ll let the media guys come out with more if there is news and when the time arises.
“But for now, I want to just concentrate on the rugby side of things because we have set ourselves up for a good opportunity this season to get into the quarters and play well.”
