Glasgow team selection hands Scotland Six Nations boost - but Rory Darge timeline tight

Jack Dempsey and Kyle Steyn return to Warriors starting line-up for Champions Cup group decider

Kyle Steyn (pictured) and Jack Dempsey return to the Glasgow line-up in a timely boost for Scotland ahead of the Six Nations. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Franco Smith has always said his role is to help Scotland as much as it is Glasgow Warriors and the South African appears to have killed two birds with one stone in that regard with his latest team selection.

The Glasgow head coach has found room in his starting XV for tonight’s crucial Investec Champions Cup match against Toulon for both Jack Dempsey and Kyle Steyn who have recovered from relatively serious injuries that has seen the pair play just three times between them since returning from the World Cup.

Steyn regains the captaincy and starts on the right wing while Dempsey slots in at number eight for a match that Warriors need to win to ensure their place in the last 16 of the competition.

Both players were named in the Scotland squad this week for the forthcoming Six Nations and head coach Gregor Townsend will no doubt be happy to see them back, especially with injury concerns over other back-row and back three candidates.

“Our S&C and medical team did a great job with both of them,” said Smith. “To have them return to play and perform is always our mission and they’ve both looked really good. Both of them trained most of last week with us so it wasn’t much of a re-introduction for them this week. Hopefully they can express themselves in the game.

“He [Steyn] definitely could [play the full game if required]. But we have a lot of plans. We could pop George [Horne] on the wing like we often do with Ben Afshar coming in or we can put Stafford [McDowall] on at centre and move Huw [Jones] out. There are various ways we can cover that.

“But I think Kyle would like the time out there. The reason we didn’t involve him last week was to allow him to play as many minutes as possible this week. We’ve no real intent to swap him out. It’s about allowing him as much time on the field so he can be an option for Scotland in the Six Nations.”

Rory Darge remains on a very tight timeline if he is to return for Scotland’s opening game away to Wales on February 3.

“He’s going into week four [of his rehabilitation],” added Smith. “That was a six to eight week injury that could come down to six weeks. But we will hand him over to Scotland next week and it will be up to them to decide how they want to deal with that.”

Warriors head into this game on the back of two successive defeats, something that has rarely occurred on Smith’s watch. Victory is imperative tonight and, if it could be achieved by getting revenge on the team that bested them in last year’s Challenge Cup final, then all the better.

“I don’t like losing, nobody likes losing,” added Smith. “It’s obviously an added ingredient to play the guys who knocked us out [in the final] and put a bit of a dampener on our season last year.

“There is a bit of a sensation that there is an opportunity to prove to ourselves that we are good enough to go all the way in the competition and we could have done it last year in that game if we had played better.”

Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Kyle Rowe, Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, George Turner, Lucio Sordoni, Max Williamson, Richie Gray, Ally Miller, Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey. Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Oli Kebble, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Euan Ferrie, Boan Venter, Ben Afshar, Stafford McDowall.

Toulon: Aymeric Luc, Gaël Dréan, Setariki Tuicuvu, Mathieu Smaïli, Gabin Villière, Jérémy Sinzelle, Vasil Lobzhanidze; Bruce Devaux, Teddy Baubigny, Emerick Setiano, Swan Rebbadj, Adrien Warion, Jules Coulon, Mattéo Le Corvec, Facundo Isa. Replacements: Jack Singleton, Fabio Gonzalez, Beka Gigashvili, Matthias Halagahu, Christopher Tolofua, Jules Danglot, Enzo Herve, Maëlan Rabut.