Henry Pyrgos denies Glasgow Warriors are facing any more pressure

By DAVID FERGUSON
Published on 21/09/2012 00:00

GLASGOW Warriors prepare to make their second appearance at the new Scotstoun Stadium with the players themselves insisting there is no extra pressure to win tonight to christen the new venue.

The Warriors lost to Scarlets in their opening match in the new west end home a fortnight ago, but coming into the team for his first start of the season is Henry Pyrgos and his attitude seems typical of a squad that expects more this season. He stated this week that there was not more pressure on the team to beat Irish visitors Connacht tonight than at any other time, because he insisted that in recent seasons vying with the title contenders the squad had grown accustomed to playing under pressure.

“I wouldn’t say there was unnecessary pressure,” he said, qualifying his response to a question of how much the pressure had grown since the opening-night defeat. There is always pressure when we’re at home. The club is working hard to get a crowd down to watch and we want to put on a really good show for them and get a really good win. We obviously haven’t won here, but there isn’t unneccessary pressure – we just want to do well.

“Every time we take the field we go out to win. We’re not a team that goes away and thinks ‘oh, this is an away game and we don’t need to win’; home or away we’re focused on winning and putting in a good performance.”

Pyrgos joined Glasgow only two years ago, straight from Loughborough University and a promising showing for Scotland at Under-20 level. He was a 5ft 10in, 12-stone stripling of a talent, but two years of gym work, a stone on and time spent working closely with the injured internationalist he replaces this week, Chris Cusiter, and he feels more bullish about his ability to help lead Glasgow to a run of victories in the coming weeks.

“I’m really excited and I want to play well. It was unfortunate last week for Cus to get injured, but it gave me a chance to get on the pitch early and I’m just excited about starting this week and doing what I can to help the team get the win. From now to when I turned up at the club two years ago there is a massive change, just in my understanding of the game, and my development has improved massively. The physical side of my game has improved from being the gym consistently, and being able to work on my core skills every week is something I’ve enjoyed, and now I suppose it’s time for me to really kick on and prove that I can start week in week out.

“Chris and I spend a lot of time together during the week, both being nines, and a lot of it [learning] is probably just from watching him train and play, and how he goes about his business. But all the time he’s giving me little tips on training and what to do here and there, so he’s been a massive help.”

Like Glasgow, Connacht have one win in their opening three matches, a comprehensive victory over newcomers Zebre in Italy, and Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend was quick to point out this week that they have been close in their defeats to Cardiff and the Scarlets. The Warriors have also found Connacht tough nuts to crack in recent seasons, often becoming embroiled in tousy battles won on three occasions in the past two years by the Irishmen.

Townsend is looking for more enterprise from his side, but knows that that will only come if the strong home pack can dominate the Connacht forwards. Coach Eric Elwood has strengthened his front five by shifting No 8 George Naoupu, a former New Zealand U19s and sevens cap, to the second row, and so ex-Ulsterman Willie Faloon joins Johnny O’Connor and 21-year-old Eoin McKeon in a a relatively small but quick back row. If the front five do their job in the set-piece, much will then hinge on Pyrgos and Duncan Weir to bring the necessary variety and width to the Warriors’ attack to open up the visitors. With Peter Horne and Alex Dunbar outside them, it is a young threequarter line, but Connacht too are blooding youngsters with 19-year-old Robbie Henshaw handed his first start after making an impact from the bench in the first three games, and Dave McSharry, like Pyrgos just 22, alongside in a new centre pairing. Pyrgos believes he is now ready to become a genuine rival to Cusiter, and new Fijian signing Niko Matawalu, who arrives this weekend, and is keen to prove it.

Teams:

GLASGOW

15 P Murchie

14 S Lamont

13 A Dunbar

12 P Horne

11 D van der Merwe

10 D Weir

9 H Pyrgos

1 R Grant

2 D Hall

3 M Low

4 T Ryder

5 A Kellock (capt)

6 J Eddie

8 R Wilson

7 J Barclay

Subs

16 F Gillies

17 M Cusack

18 G Reid

19 T Swinson

20 A Macdonald

21 S Kennedy

22 S Wight

23 Troy Nathan

CONNACHT

15 G Duffy (capt)

14 J Loxton

13 R Henshaw

12 D McSharry

11 M McCrea

10 M Jarvis

9 K Marmion

1 B Wilkinson

2 A Flavin

3 N White

4 G Naoupu

5 D Gannon

6 J O’Connor

8 E McKeon

7 W Faloon

Subs (from)

16 K O’Byrne

17 D Buckley

18 R Ah You

19 M Swify

20 M Kearney

21 D Moore

22 J Carty

23 M Fifita