Tom Ryder eyes better lineout for Glasgow Warriors

By DAVID FERGUSON
Published on 06/09/2012 03:46

IT IS ever a key battleground in rugby, but if there is one area in which Glasgow Warriors need to find swift improvement inside a week, it is the lineout.

Tom Ryder and Al Kellock have become two of the most impressive lineout performers in the RaboDirect PRO12 but the set-piece was decidedly ring-rusty against Ulster last Friday and became a chief culprit in the Warriors’ defeat.

Ryder spoke yesterday of the need to get that part of the game back up to speed, especially against a Scarlets side that now has South Africans George Earle and Jake Ball, and Argentine Tomas Vallejos. The Welsh side announced another new South African second-row signing yesterday, with lock Johan Snyman set to join in October. Ryder, one of Scotland’s debutant caps in the summer, said: “The lineout has been a strength all the time I’ve been here and, the way we want to play, it’s massive that we win our own ball. That’s something that didn’t happen last week and was a reason why we couldn’t capitalise on opportunities we got against Ulster. We’ve worked on our lineouts all week and had a frank discussion about what we need to do for this week, and we’re confident that the little start-of-season blips are out of the way and are looking forward to this weekend.”

Playing at Scotstoun will add to this week’s game for Ryder. “Hopefully we will be able to put things right this weekend because we want to make Scotstoun our new fortress.”