Glasgow Warriors enjoy SPOTY recognition but time to 'move on'

Recognition of what Glasgow Warriors achieved last season didn’t come as quickly as it should have and Franco Smith said as much at the start of the new campaign.

Speaking in September, the head coach accused people of dismissing their United Rugby Championship triumph as “a fluke” and “underwhelming” and he also queried why they had not been tipped by pundits to triumph again this time around.

The end of year awards season is now in full swing and Glasgow are finally starting to receive the plaudits their success deserves. Their win in the URC final over the Bulls in Pretoria in front of 50,000 partisan South African supporters was voted the sporting moment of the year at the Scottish Sports Awards and Smith himself was named coach of the year at the Glasgow Sports Award.

Glasgow Warriors captain Kyle Steyn, head coach Franco Smith and managing director Al Kellock with the URC trophy at Hampden. | SNS Group

National recognition followed on Tuesday via the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year programme where they were nominated for the Team of the Year prize. They lost out to Wigan Warriors but it was another significant milestone for Smith's team.

Glasgow were represented at SPOTY at Media City in Salford by Jack Dempsey and Max Williamson who are both currently injured and won’t be able to play in Sunday’s 1872 Cup match against Edinburgh at Hampden.

“They really enjoyed it,” said Pete Murchie, the Glasgow assistant coach. “It's good for us to be in the mix, I guess. It was good for Jack and Max to be able to get up close and personal with all the great and the good. It's always nice to be asked these things.

“At the same time, it was last season, so you quickly move on, don't you?”

Murchie’s focus is very much on Hampden and trying to outwit his rivals from along the M8 in the first leg of the festive double-header. The defence coach has been impressed by Edinburgh’s recent form, most notably in scoring 50-plus points in their home wins over Bayonne and Benetton. A notable criticism of Edinburgh last season was their failure to get the best out of their backline threats. The addition to their coaching staff over the summer of Scott Mathie has helped pep up their attack, although Murchie expects the festive double-header to be more of an arm wrestle.

“You look at them and they're definitely trying to do a few things differently,” said the Glasgow coach. “But these games tend to play out slightly differently to how our last game and their last game might have played out, just because of the nature of derbies.

“I previewed them last year, same time of year. They were smashing teams apart just before Christmas. They were absolutely flying. I think they put 50 on a couple of teams and are doing so again this time. Their attack when they played us, I know obviously there's been a bit of chat about it, but they were smashing teams before they played us last year. So there's the threat there.

“Obviously, they've scored a lot of points in the last few games, including Bayonne at the weekend, so they're full of confidence. Like I said, they’re certainly not a team to be taken lightly.”

Honours were even last season in the 1872 Cup with each side winning their home game but Glasgow prevailed on aggregate.