THE present position of Glasgow Warriors, and indeed of any sports team that has recently tasted major success for the first time, is perhaps best summed up by that well-known commentator on rugby, King Louie out of The Jungle Book.
“I’ve reached the top and had to stop,” sang the excitable ape. “And that’s what’s botherin’ me.”
Maybe it is true in many cases that winning a first trophy is the most difficult achievement for a team, because of the psychological hurdles to be overcome by players who do not know what it takes to triumph at the highest level of their sport. But forging on from that first victory to claim more silverware at the next opportunity can pause unique problems, especially for teams such as Glasgow, who spent years steadily improving in the PRO12 before eventually ending up as champions last May.
It certainly takes far more careful thought than appeared to be in the mind of Ally MacLeod, the Scotland football manager, in 1978. Asked what he planned to do after that year’s World Cup, MacLeod said simply: “Retain it.”
One problem during that difficult season after a trophy is won can lie in the minds of the players. Some may become hungry for more success. Others, possibly only subconsciously, may prefer to dwell on that past glory, and feel just that little bit less hungry than they did when they had yet to having anything tangible for their efforts.
A second problem can be that every other team raises their game against you, being desperate to knock you off your perch. And a third, altogether less tangible problem, is that no two seasons are ever the same, and that relatively minor changes can knock players off their stride.
There is no sign at all, in the case of the Warriors squad, that any of them have become sated by that solitary PRO12 success. So why have the team’s results been less impressive so far this season?
For Gregor Townsend, the head coach, the first difficulty was the Rugby World Cup. It was no surprise that those teams which thrived during the early stages of the World Cup were those, such as Connacht, who had fewest players absent on international duty.
By contrast, if you watched Glasgow playing during those opening weeks of the PRO12 campaign and thought to yourself “They just don’t look like the same team that won the competition,” you would have been right, literally. They were an almost entirely different team: two players had moved on - DTH van der Merwe and Niko Matawalu - , some others had come in on short-term contracts, but most importantly, more than a score were away playing for their countries.
“The World Cup has been a big factor,” Townsend said recently. “We’ve had a new team out, we won three out of six during that period, and we were in a position to win them all.
“Twenty-one players were away at the World Cup, so that shows the depth of the squad. Some players hadn’t played professional rugby before, but they took their opportunity. I was really pleased with that.
“Nothing has changed for me in terms of how the players work together. Some young players talk more in meetings and on the field, and that will translate into more consistent performances when we get a run of games.”
The double defeat by Edinburgh in the 1872 Cup was a setback, as was the loss to Northampton in the first round of pool games in the Champions Cup. But Glasgow still have their fate in their own hands when it comes to qualifying for the knockout stages in Europe, and they could lose to Racing 92 this weekend yet still go through providing they win their two subsequent games.
As for the PRO12, yes, they are down in eighth at the moment, which is worryingly low. But they have a game in hand on all but one of the teams above them, and if they win that with a bonus point they could go up as far as fourth - ahead of Edinburgh, who currently hold that position.
That would not be too far behind the position they found themselves in at the start of last year. They could have gone top of the PRO12 at the start of last year had they beaten Edinburgh in the second leg of the 1872 Cup, but Alan Solomons’ team won the match and took the trophy on aggregate.
It was a setback, but a very temporary one. And, with a solid block of fixtures to come, weather permitting, Townsend is confident that the team’s physical and mental strength will see them through.
“In the last few years we’ve shown a really good knack or ability to play well as the season goes on, so during and after the Six Nations,” he added. “It’s a credit to the players for the work they put in throughout the year, and to our conditioning coaches.”
If that greater consistency is achieved again over the coming couple of months, we may well find out that rumours of the Warriors’ relative demise have been greatly exaggerated.
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