'For them more than anything' - the Glasgow Warriors trio who are going to benefit most from free week

Kyle Steyn has urged Glasgow Warriors to make the most of a rare weekend off to recharge their batteries for the season’s run-in as they look to defend their United Rugby Championship title.

They suffered a rare home defeat on Friday evening, going down 26-19 to the Bulls, but remain second in the standings, one point ahead of the South African side, with two rounds of fixtures remaining.

Glasgow have already secured their place in the end-of-season play-offs and are guaranteed a home tie in the quarter-finals. If they can hang on to second place they will also have home advantage in the semis, should they make it that far.

Warriors' Kyle Steyn scores a second half try against the Bulls. (Photo by Calum Chittleburgh / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Before that, they will round off their regular season with tough away games at Benetton and Leinster on May 10 and 17 as they look to fend off the Bulls who finish with home matches against Cardiff and the Dragons.

With Glasgow out of the Champions Cup, they’ve now got a free week and Steyn feels it is much needed after a gruelling season, particularly for the club’s frontline Scotland players such as Rory Darge, Tom Jordan and Stafford McDowall.

“We’ve got to use the fact that we don't have a game this week to freshen up and be able to come back and then take the learnings and use the fresh energy to catapult us into this because we’ve got two really tough away games to finish and then it’s into knockout rugby and whoever's coming here [in the quarter-final], it's going to be a tough game,” said the Warriors captain whose late try helped a secure an important bonus point in the Bulls defeat.

“Look, I haven't played a lot of rugby this season so I'm probably a little bit better off than most of the boys but I know there are a lot of guys who, because of the injury list, haven't had the breaks they would have hoped for.

“TJ, Staff, Darge and a lot of those boys have come straight back from Scotland camp, and they've played a lot of rugby. So I think for them more than anything, this break will be good.

“I'm just going to rest up. Hopefully, if the weather allows, I'll get out on the golf course but I just won't mention the word rugby which will be quite nice for a week.”

Injuries have taken their toll on Glasgow this season. Steyn himself has had two lengthy absences and the squad that took on the Bulls on Friday were without a host of international players, including Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Jack Dempsey and the Fagerson brothers. The brutal match against Jake White’s side only exacerbated the injury problems, with Gregor Brown, Jack Mann and Patrick Schickerling all joining the crocked list.

“I keep hoping every week that we'll just catch a break eventually but it seems like there were a few [more injuries] on Friday again,” said Steyn. “And we obviously lost Joshy [McKay] during the week [to a knee infection].

“I think that's just the way it's going to go and we've just got to buckle down and whoever's there, whoever can play, just needs to front up.”