Townsend seeks home comforts

Senior Sports Writer

Thursday 6 September 2012

Rarely has so much been at stake so early in a coach's career at a new club than for Gregor Townsend when his Glasgow Warriors face the Scarlets tomorrow and as much as he was seeking to give off an air of confidence yesterday, his team selection betrayed him.

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Kevin Ferrie

After just one competitive match, ahead of which he had asserted that he had put together the best possible combinations to win the game, he has changed almost half the team for tomorrow's meeting with the Scarlets.

Perhaps most notable is that a man who played through an era in which Scotland suffered horribly because of an inability to settle on a playmaker, he has immediately changed his stand-off, dropping Duncan Weir in favour of Ruaridh Jackson, his international rival.For all the promise that has been shown by Henry Pyrgos as an up-and-coming scrum-half, the knowhow of Chris Cusiter earns him the berth alongside Jackson, with whom he came off the bench last weekend against Ulster.The return of John Barclay in the back row and DTH van der Merwe on the wing also adds considerable experience, while the entire front row has been replaced, with the all-international combination of Ryan Grant, Dougie Hall and Moray Low coming in.Publicly at least, Townsend's approach as a full-time coach, during which he has now helped Scotland and the Warriors to 13 wins in 38 matches, has been to talk up his players as individuals, confining criticisms to generalisations.Consequently, we were told yesterday that problems with discipline, with accuracy and the attacking realignment contributed to the defeat by Ulster, while excuses were offered for Weir and Tommy Seymour was praised for his contribution, even though they are among those left out this time around.That has doubtless contributed to his popularity among players but the only thing that will make him popular with supporters is generating the sort of winning habit that has brought the club two Pro12 semi-finals in the past three years. In particular, they want to see their team win at home and they are expected to turn up in big numbers, on a significant night for Glasgow rugby. It just so happens that standing in their way are formidable opponents who ran in seven tries against the European champions Leinster last weekend.Scotstoun will be a huge sporting hub for the city over the next couple of years in the build-up to and contesting of the Commonwealth Games which represents a chance for its main tenants to market themselves, but only if they are winning, which Townsend acknowledged."It's massive to get the opportunity to play where you've been training for the last 18 months," he said. "Last night, we had a run out and the pitch is great. It was excellent even when we played under the lights at the end. We're expecting a great crowd coming along, an excellent atmosphere, but it's not about just playing there, it's about winning. So the XV that get to start have a great opportunity to be the first Glasgow Warriors playing at Scotstoun but it's all about winning against the Scarlets."It's going to be different because there's going to be activities before the game on the 3G pitch and there's going to be a real buzz within the stadium. There will be people on the indoor athletics track, there will be people in the mezzanine level where we've got a clubhouse just outside, so it does cater more for our supporters to get here early and create an atmosphere as we're warming up and we're going to have supporters on either side of the pitch which will be great.Last week, he had said that they were heading to one of his favourite venues at Belfast's Ravenhill, but he said yesterday that he believes home advantage is crucial."It makes a huge difference," said Townsend. "The engagement with the crowd is very important and that's what's been built up over the last few years. You see the players really appreciate the support they get, they're always there at the end of the game genuinely going to thank the supporters. "The crowd give the opposition and the referee a hard time, so they're passionate about their team and that does help. You know when you're playing in a hostile environment that it's tougher. It gives you that boost as a home team that you really want to play for your crowd."For the record, after a non-contact run out for tomorrow's starters, another XV played a match against Ayr on Tuesday evening and had the better of it, but to his credit, while he noted that his men had run in a few tries, Townsend did not claim that as a first win as Warriors head coach.For all sorts of reasons, he badly needs that to be recorded tomorrow.

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Townsend seeks home comforts

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