Glasgow Warriors reaction: Injury update on big three as captain hailed after Benetton win

Coach identifies area to fix

Glasgow Warriors got their season up and running with a 42-10 home win over Benetton but the victory came at a cost, with three of their big guns injured.

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Kyle Steyn, who scored two tries and produced a man-of-the-match performance, suffered a shin injury and had to come off, while Adam Hastings and George Horne both failed initial head injury assessments.

Hastings was the victim of a cynical body check by Scott Scrafton, the Benetton lock, who dipped his shoulder into the stand-off’s head as he chipped the ball over him shortly before half-time.

Franco Smith, the Glasgow coach, said there was still a chance they could pass the necessary protocols in time for the Warriors’ next match, away to Cardiff on Friday.

“They failed the HIA1, so that is just a normal procedure,” he said. “They can still be available towards the end of next week depending on the outcome of the test that needs to be done from now on. So we'll see.

“They both looked fine to me, but obviously they failed the on-field or the first test that they had to do.”

Steyn’s injury will be assessed this week. The Glasgow captain initially went off in the 52nd minute but had to come back on nine minutes later when Horne was injured. Steyn scored his second try while nursing the knock but eventually had to come off again and young Warriors forward Euan Ferrie took his place on the wing and scored the final try of the night.

Kyle Steyn scores Warriors' first try of the match during the BKT United Rugby Championship win over Benetton at Scotstoun Stadium. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Kyle Steyn scores Warriors' first try of the match during the BKT United Rugby Championship win over Benetton at Scotstoun Stadium. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Kyle Steyn scores Warriors' first try of the match during the BKT United Rugby Championship win over Benetton at Scotstoun Stadium. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Smith enthused about Steyn’s performance on an evening when the Scotland winger led from the front.

“Kyle is a wonderful leader,” said the coach. “We've got a very good relationship. He's just been going about his business in his own way. Silent but accurate. He's got his finger on the pulse across the team.

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“To be rewarded tonight, the man of the match medal, there were a lot of other games where he should have got it but he didn't. So to get it tonight was important. He had to come back on. He got caught with what looks like a contact bruise on his shin. We're going to have to examine that and see what's happened. He scored a try with the leg like that. Hopefully, it's not that serious.”

Glasgow’s other tries came from Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson and Jamie Dobie against ill-disciplined opponents who had Paolo Odogwu and Riccardo Favretto yellow-carded in the second half. At one stage Benetton were down to 12 men.

“The red card did make a difference, I suppose, for them,” said Smith. “But I still thought we had ascendancy the whole first half. Like last week against Ulster, we had ascendancy in every part of the game. When it was 14-0 up, I think we kicked it in the corner. When it was 21-10 up, we lost the ball in the lineout. There were moments where we could have taken the game away from them earlier without them being a red card down.”

Glasgow opened their URC campaign with a 20-19 loss to Ulster in Belfast last week and Smith felt his side showed more attacking intent against Benetton.

“I think we get spoiled in this competition with the quality of the rugby that's always being displayed,” he said. “We asked for progression this week from last week and we saw that from an attacking perspective. We backed a good defensive performance from last week up with another good defence performance. We missed about six lineouts inside the 22, which is a work-on for us this week, but it's uncommon. So, it's something that we can fix.”

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