It was not so much a team announcement as a declaration of intent as head coach Dave Rennie indicated that he has agreed a new deal that will keep him at the club, after unveiling his line-up for tonight’s meeting with Cardiff Blues.
With many squad members currently out-of-contract, confirmation that the highly regarded New Zealander is staying on should only strengthen the club’s negotiating hand.
“I’m keen to stay,” he said. “We’ve been in discussions for a long time. I’m really enjoying it here. As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, they’re good people so I’m keen to stay longer. We’ve pretty much sorted everything. It’s just a case of sorting the paperwork out now. From a contracting point of view with the players, everyone wants clarity about what things are going to look like next year, hence the reason we’ve been keen to get things sorted. There are still a few things to sort out, but I’ll definitely be here next year.”
In saying so, while he accepted that there may be some further departures, following the confirmation that Stuart Hogg is heading to Exeter and speculation that Huw Jones is set to join Leicester, he will be anxious to ensure that he maintains the sort of strength Glasgow currently boasts, indicating that he is confident that Adam Hastings, whose international form has attracted attention, will be among those staying. While still supplying more players to the national squad than any other club Glasgow will have 15 international players in the match 23 against Cardiff and those do not include skipper Callum Gibbins.
Slightly surprisingly, having been involved in all three of Scotland’s Tests so far this summer, Tommy Seymour – who started each of them - Pete Horne and Ali Price return after being left out of Scotland’s 23 to meet Argentina, but Rennie indicated that they can expect to have the following weekend off ahead of back-to-back Champions Cup meetings with Lyon.
Another who fits into that category is Matt Fagerson, who has recovered from the dead leg that ruled him out of Scotland’s meeting with the Springboks last weekend.
“I think Matt has done really well,” Rennie said of the youngster. “He was pretty good against Wales. Obviously, he got a dead leg against Fiji which limited his ability to do what he wanted to do, but he has re-habbed pretty well so he’s just rapt to be playing.”
Tonight’s match also provides a comeback opportunity for Tim Swinson, out of action since breaking his leg when Scotland visited Canada in the summer.
“It has been a long comeback for him, but he has worked really hard, been disciplined, and he was an absolute menace in training at the end of last week, as Tim can be. We’re looking forward to getting him back into the mix,” said Rennie.
Glasgow: R Jackson; T Seymour, N Grigg, S McDowall, N Matawalu; P Horne, A Price; J Bhatti, G Turner, D Rae, R Harley, K McDonald, A Ashe, C Gibbins, M Fagerson. Replacements – G Stewart, K Bryce, P du Plessis, T Swinson, M Smith, N Frisby, B Thomson, R Hughes
Cardiff Blues: T Williams; A Summerhill, G Smith, W Halaholo, J Harries; J Evans, L Williams; B Thyer, K Dacey, K Assiratti, G Earle, S Davies, J Turnbull, O Robinson, N Williams. Replacements: L Belcher, R Carré, S Andrews, J Down, S Bennett, L Jones, S Shingler, H Millard
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