Glasgow Warriors reaction: Huw Jones, Jamie Dobie and Cole Forbes injury update, caution urged over Munster quarter-final

Onwards and upwards for Glasgow Warriors. Their 29-27 victory over Connacht on Saturday night made it nine wins from nine at Scotstoun in the United Rugby Championship, a full house across the regular league season.

Huw Jones scores an early try for Glasgow Warriors against Connacht. He later went off with a head injury. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Their reward is a fourth-place finish and a home tie against Munster in the play-off quarter-finals on the weekend of May 6. A semi-final awaits the victors, against the winners of the Leinster v Sharks last-eight match. Fourth place had already been secured going into the Connacht game and Franco Smith believes that contributed to their Irish opponents having the edge physically. “They had a lot more to play for,” said the Glasgow coach. “We knew they were going to throw everything at it. They were playing for a Heineken Cup position, and that means a lot to the club. They were physically better than us, they dominated us at maul time, they defended well. I think that’s why we got a couple of bumps and bruises. They were throwing themselves at it to get maximum reward.”

Smith will assess the damage on Monday morning but he was cautiously optimistic that Huw Jones would not be sidelined for long. Jones, who played at full-back against Connacht and scored Glasgow’s first-minute try, departed just before half-time for a head injury assessment and never returned. He will now go through the return to play protocols. “It’s quite positive on him,” said Smith. “He hasn’t had problems [in the past with head injuries] so we’ll see how he progresses during the week.”

In an attritional encounter, the Warriors also lost wingers Jamie Dobie and Cole Forbes, causing replacement forward Matt Fagerson to be pressed into service as an emergency centre. “It was Dobie’s knee so he is being assessed and hopefully it’s not too serious,” added Smith. “Cole Forbes had a tweaked hamstring so we’ll see how he looks on Monday.” Lucio Sordoni, the prop, also departed for an HIA.

Connacht snapped at Glasgow’s heels throughout, but the home side did just enough, with Rory Darge and Stafford McDowall particularly impressive. Tom Jordan, Ali Price and Johnny Matthews added to Jones’ early try, and George Horne kicked two conversions and a penalty, with Jordan also contributing a conversion. Connacht responded with a penalty try and further scores from Cian Prendergast and Shamus Hurley-Langton. Jack Carty, their fly-half, kicked 10 points.

Smith’s side defeated Munster 38-26 in Limerick last month but the coach is keen to expunge that result from the minds of his players ahead of the quarter-final. Munster have spent the past fortnight in South Africa where they beat the Stormers and drew with the Sharks so will arrive at Scotstoun in good fettle. “They came back from a 50-point loss to the Sharks in the Champions Cup and drew with them in the URC on Saturday,” noted Smith. “They have quality in their squad, and know how to play play-off rugby - they’ve been in the play-offs forever. Our result over there doesn’t count. It will not even be something that we bring up in our conversations. We’ll use some of the video footage from that game but we know it’s going to be a one-off battle here.”

Before that, Glasgow will travel to Llanelli to play the Scarlets in the Challenge Cup semi-finals this Saturday.