Glasgow Warriors are gaining short and long-term benefits from the strain being placed on their resources by a string of injuries, according to assistant coach Jason O’Halloran.
The one time All Black pointed out that as well as their absences allowing opportunities to develop other players, those who are sidelined are getting a break from the relentless wear and tear of long seasons.
“I know from experience that often times it is not a bad thing to have injuries because you then have guys at the back end of the season who are energised and really looking forward to playing rugby. Sometimes if you play a full season, you can get towards the end, when you really need to be at your peak, but be quite worn out,” he said.“Sometimes injuries can be a blessing. Hopefully we can get a few of those boys back on board over the next few weeks.
“Nobody likes being injured but I’ve played with a string of guys who have had a lot of injuries and what happens is that it can pan out your career towards the back end because you don’t spend so long the field in your mid-to-late 20s. It can mean you play on until you are 34, 35, so there is a silver lining sometimes.”
The more immediate benefit has, however, been the opportunity presented to the likes of newcomer Kyle Steyn and returning hooker Grant Stewart who both started and scored tries in setting up last weekend’s defeat of Connacht before youthful winger Robbie Nairn came off the bench to apply the coup de grace with a brace of touchdowns.
“That was another opportunity for our young guys to put their hands up,” O’Halloran said of that 43-17 bonus point win which saw them halve Munster’s advantage at the top of Conference A to a single point. “The energy and enthusiasm was fantastic. Looking at the numbers in support of line breaks is always a good indicator of the mentality of the group. Every time we broke we got three or four jerseys there really quick and that was really impressive. We’ve got a really good record in these international windows and now we’ve won our last three games with a young group and picked up 14 out of 15 points. We’d like to finish the job this week, but having lost to Benetton we know the Italian sides can be tough nuts to crack these days.”
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