RANGERS boss Mark Warburton is no lover of Kilmarnock’s artificial pitch, but, after watching the Warriors beat Munster 27-24 on the Rugby Park plastic on Friday night, Gregor Townsend declared himself a fan, and is keen to see a similar surface installed at Scotstoun.
“This surface really suits the type of fast-paced game we seek to play,” said Townsend. “In the warm-up we found it difficult to get the ball wet, which means it makes for better handling, and that suits us. Rugby Park is a terrific alternative for us, but Scotstoun is our home and we hope to be back there for our next home match, and looking ahead, I think an artificial pitch laid there will benefit us.”
The coach was also pleased to have posted a bonus-point win, which keeps alive Warriors’ hopes of defending their Pro12 crown.
“Munster came to win, they had some outstanding ball carriers and they gave us a game, but I was delighted with our scrum. Dan McFarland has worked really hard on that aspect of our game and tonight he got pay-back, but we had good performances right through the team,” he said.
“Simone Favore’s work on the ground set up our final try, Peter Horne and Duncan Weir were terrific. This was a game we had to win. It offered effectively double points, given the league positions, but this league is still very tight, with eight clubs vying for the top four positions.
“Our next two games are very important, we have a big focus on these. Playing the Dragons on a Thursday night will be a challenge, and, it is never easy down there, while we hope to be back home at Scotstoun for the Blues.”
However, Townsend saved his greatest praise for man-of-the-match Josh Strauss. “Josh was keen to lead the side and we saw the old, inspirational Josh, carrying for some impressive yards. He lifted the crowd and, in return, the players fed off their energy.”
After the Warriors’ good night, the only problem was Chris Fusaro’s head knock. He failed the initial head injury assessment, but, Townsend is confident he should not be out for too long.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel