1872 Cup: Sione Vailanu insists Glasgow Warriors will be ready for Edinburgh backlash

Superior physicality was at the heart of Glasgow Warriors’ 1872 Cup first leg triumph over Edinburgh last Friday night at Scotstoun, and back-rower Sione Vailanu says that he and his team-mates are expecting a backlash when the two teams meet again at Murrayfield this coming Friday.
Sione Vailanu in action for Glasgow Warriors during the 1872 Cup first leg win over Edinburgh at Scotstoun last week. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)Sione Vailanu in action for Glasgow Warriors during the 1872 Cup first leg win over Edinburgh at Scotstoun last week. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)
Sione Vailanu in action for Glasgow Warriors during the 1872 Cup first leg win over Edinburgh at Scotstoun last week. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Glasgow haven’t beaten Edinburgh at the national stadium since December 2016, but they will feel that having their Challenge Cup clash against Perpignan moved there a fortnight ago due to a frozen pitch at Scotstoun could provide a useful edge as they look to extend their winning streak to five games in all competitions.

This will be the first and probably the only time Edinburgh play inside the international bowl this season.

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“Edinburgh will be very well motivated for the match after the way the game went last Friday, so it’s up to us to match them,” said Vailanu. “We said after that first game that we’ll try to big it up next week, especially the physicality, then hopefully get a win again.

“We beat them last week because we got the upper hand against them in the maul and scrum during the first half, but in the second half they tried to come at us, so that’s something we will need to work on and hopefully we’ll sort it on Friday.

“We work hard on our defence and against Edinburgh we were able to stop them. I was really impressed with the boys. We’re expecting a backlash this week, they’re going to come hard at us, but we’re ready for it.

“We had a break over Christmas then came back in on Tuesday and are working as hard as we can to make sure we go into the game in the right mind set.

“We’re quite confident now. We’ve won the last four games and we’re trying to build momentum.”

Vailanu – who is a Tongan internationalist – arrived in Glasgow this summer as a hard-running No 8 but the absence through injury of Rory Darge and Tom Gordon has led to him being deployed as an openside flanker in recent weeks, as part of a muscular back-row unit alongside Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey.

“I really enjoy the way we are playing now,” he added. “I want to get on the ball as much as possible, because that’s my strength – running hard with the ball.”

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