Glasgow Warriors duo suffer 'not good' injuries and will miss first months of season

Glasgow Warriors have been dealt a blow before the start of the new United Rugby Championship after two of their players were sidelined by “not good” injuries.

Kiran McDonald picked up a 'nasty' kidney injury in pre-season.

Winger Ratu Tagive will undergo surgery in the coming weeks to repair a fractured cheek that he picked up in an accidental collision with Newcastle Falcons’ Mike Brown on Friday night, while second row Kiran McDonald suffered a damaged kidney in the same pre-season friendly. The duo are expected to miss the first couple of months of the campaign.

“We’re talking a fair period of time, more than six weeks, but I’m not exactly sure where those guys are at because they’ve got to see their respective specialists,” said Glasgow’s assistant coach Peter Murchie.

“They are not good injuries – they are not short-term – which is a real shame because they both did well on Friday and were looking sharp.

Glasgow Warriors' Ratu Tagive suffered injury against Newcastle Falcons.

“Certainly, for this first block of games, they are going to be out.”

Murchie lamented the injury to Tagive, who was starting to hit top gear on the wing. “It’s his cheek but we won’t know the full picture, potentially, until he goes under the knife,” continued Murchie. “It is a real shame for Ratu but he’ll bounce back quickly. He’s a great bloke and very dedicated, so he’ll get stuck into his rehab, and he can help us on the other side in terms of clips and analysis.

“But it is a blow for him because he was playing really well up until that point and it was just one of those innocuous things that can happen a game where he’s just caught someone and it has had a major impact.

On McDonald’s situation, Murchie added: “It’s a nasty injury. Both of them have played on for a period of time. It’s unfortunate – it’s not that common as an injury – but he’s obviously taken a fair old whack there. I would imagine it is difficult to put a time-frame on it. It will depend on healing and so on, and you definitely don’t want to rush those types of injury.”

Glasgow’s final pre-season fixture is against Worcester at the Sixways Stadium on Friday. The newly-formed United Rugby Championship begins on September 24, with the Scotstoun club up against Ulster.

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