Danny Wilson cool on idea of playing 1872 Cup matches on the same weekends as Six Nations games

Glasgow Warriors coach Danny Wilson has voiced his opposition to rescheduling the 1872 Cup matches on the same weekends as Six Nations games.

New dates must be found for the 1872 Cup matches. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Both festive derbies against Edinburgh were postponed due to Covid cases in the Glasgow camp and league organisers face a headache in trying to find new dates in a congested calendar.

The Six Nations weekends remain available but it would mean Glasgow and Edinburgh playing each other without their Scotland contingent, stripping the fixture of much of its lustre.

“I hope that they’re programmed for a time when all our internationals can play against each other,” said Wilson.

Glasgow head coach Danny Wilson would like to see the 1872 Cup matches played when both sides have their Scotland players available. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

“They’re the biggest games of the season, they’re the games that the crowds and the supporters want to come and see, and I hope that they’re done when both teams can play their best sides for those exciting, physical derbies that we all look forward to.

“I hope the derbies can still be the biggest games of the season and not secondary games.”

The postponements at least raise hopes that fans will be allowed in on the rescheduled dates.

Scotstoun would have been sold out for the first leg and Edinburgh were hoping for a crowd of around 30,000 for the second match before Scottish Government restrictions were imposed in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

Wilson said Glasgow’s own Covid problems were starting to ease and is confident they will be able to host the Ospreys on Saturday. The Warriors players have been doing fitness training at home and keeping away from Scotstoun in recent days.

“It’s not ideal - far from it,” said Wilson. “We’ve managed to almost firebreak to try and prevent the spread.

“We haven’t done any rugby training since we’ve had our issues - we haven’t opened the building since we’ve had our issues. Our approach is to try and stem it by stopping coming in and spending time in the gym and on the rugby field.

“We had a Zoom call yesterday - everybody at home. Everybody’s got their individual running sessions to do to keep them ticking over.

“The aim is to start training again next week to go into the Ospreys game, but that will be determined by numbers [of players available].”

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