Glasgow Warriors’ biggest problem could be who to leave out as they gear up for knockout finale

As Glasgow Warriors get down to the nitty gritty one of the biggest problems facing Franco Smith could be who to leave out.

The club’s head coach has turned selection into something of an art form this season, sometimes making as many as 11 changes from one game to the next. There has been no perceptible downturn in performances as Glasgow continue to chase honours on two fronts and the consequence has been a well managed squad with plenty of strength in depth. The Warriors play host to Connacht this weekend in the final round of the United Rugby Championship regular season, and then, as scrum coach Al Dickinson pointed out, it’s knockout rugby all the way. Glasgow have already secured a home tie in the URC play-off quarter-finals, with Munster the most likely opponents. They are also through to the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup and will take on the Scarlets in Llanelli a week on Saturday. It’s an exciting time to be a Warriors fan and Dickinson believes the club can now reap the benefits of Smith’s judicious handling of his playing resources.

“The headache that Franco’s got is selection because the strength in depth we’ve got is great, so we can afford to rotate and still have a great team,” said Dickinson. “In yesteryear that was probably the Achilles heel of Scottish rugby, having that strength of depth at club level as well as international. For us, we’ve got loads of great guys to choose from who are playing confident rugby. The boys have worked hard but they are fitter, which helps, plus playing winning rugby helps with morale and that helps get you through. The boys are a lot better conditioned this year than last, we’ve had a little bit of luck with injuries, and that ability to rotate keeps people fresh – because if you keep chucking the same boys out there then they are going to burst at some point. To be fair to the players, they have taken that hard work and just lapped it up.”

Glasgow had to dig deep last Friday to get the better of the Scarlets in the URC when a downpour at Scotstoun meant an attritional contest which featured 34 scrums - manna from heaven for Dickinson. “Nights like that are always going to be a scumfest, which is great for me,” he said. “It can be quite taxing. There’s a knock on effect because the rest of the game isn’t as quick. Sometimes you just have to grind out games, and this was one we definitely had to grind out. From a scrum point of view, a lot of things were quite pleasing. We managed to put in a good performance, get a few dominant scrums. From now on in it’s very much knockout rugby.”

Glasgow Warriors scrum coach Al Dickinson. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Glasgow’s coaching team won’t be straying far from the mantra of one game at a time but the potential season run-in for the club after Saturday’s Connacht match is: semi-final, quarter-final, semi-final, final and final as the club goes for glory in both the URC and Europe. There is much to do to turn the dream into a reality but there is a durability about Smith’s squad which suggests they are capable of landing Glasgow’s first major silverware since 2015.