I watched Glasgow Warriors overpower Sale Sharks - influential return, debuts and big Scotland question

Glasgow Warriors are off to a flying start in this season’s Investec Champions Cup after securing maximum points in their 47-72 win away to Sale Sharks.

Franco Smith’s side ran in seven tries at the CorpAcq Stadium with the driving maul once again proving the difference just as it did in their URC win over Connacht last weekend. There was also returns for Scotland internationals, two debuts and a pair of Scotland internationals who would have been looking to catch Gregor Townsend’s eye.

Here are four talking points from the win in Salford:

1. Even world class forwards are powerless to stop Glasgow’s fearsome maul

Glasgow Warriors won their Champions Cup opener away to Sale Sharks 47-27 (Pic: Getty) | Getty Images for Sale Sharks

Connacht are by no means an easy touch of a forwards pack but Sale are a step up in quality and experience from the Irish outfit. Luke Cowan-Dickie, Courtney Lawes and Tom Curry are all British & Irish Lions of multiple tours while Tom Francis has over 80 caps for Wales and there were plenty more England internationals in that group.

Despite all that Test level experience the big name Sharks forwards were almost powerless to stop Glasgow’s fearsome driving maul. They did manage to hold one up impressively but conceded three tries to the Warriors’ latest weapon of mass rugby destruction.

We already know how capable of punishing teams the backs are, something they also showed against Sharks with Jamie Dobie’s try the pick of the bunch on the day. With that in mind, we could be seeing the early signs of a very promising campaign for Franco Smith’s side.

There were negatives of course, particularly not being able to make more of the two man advantage they had in the first half after Sale’s double sin binning. Conceding four tries isn’t ideal either and Sale were right in that game up until the last eight minutes or so.

Let’s not dwell on it though, they will go back to Scotstoun with plenty to work on and for now it’s worth being excited about what this season could bring.

2. Kyle Steyn’s influence on matches continues to show

There’s a reason you don’t really see wingers as captains. It’s not unheard of by any means but it’s certainly more uncommon than other positions.

It’s because it can be hard to influence a match when hugging the touchlines, serving more as an impact player than a leader. Kyle Steyn more than bucks that trend though.

He almost always seems to be involved in everything good that the Warriors’ backs are doing and contributes massively in both attack and defence. His ability under the high ball is renowned across world rugby and he is someone who absolutely leads by example.

Having him back, along with fellow Scotland national team stalwart Zander Fagerson, made a huge difference for Glasgow on the day. For all the praise given to the driving maul, the other four tries all seemed to involve the skipper at some point and Glasgow likely don’t have as positive a result without him on the pitch.

3. Tuipulotu and van der Merwe (not those ones) impress on debuts

This clearly isn’t the first time that Scottish rugby fans have heard praise for players called Tuipulotu and van der Merwe. Only this time, we’re speaking about Warriors’ two latest debutants rather than their more famous namesakes.

Tavi Tuipulotu, younger brother to Sione, and Ruwald van der Merwe, no relation to Edinburgh’s Duhan, became Warriors #380 and #381 respectively on Saturday. Both had good showings in their first outings for the Scotstoun club.

Hooker Tuipulotu, a late call-up to the replacements after Gregor Hiddleston’s withdrawal, threw some pin-point darts at line-out time and got on the end of the final driving maul to score the bonus point clinching try while back rower van der Merwe showed the ‘explosiveness’ that head coach Franco Smith had told fans to expect. A bright start for both.

4. Sale Sharks winger puts hand up for Scotland squad but scrum-half likely to miss out

Arron Reed bagged two tries for Sale Sharks in their defeat to Glasgow. This match was a chance for him to make a late statement ahead of Gregor Townsend naming his Scotland squad for their November Test matches next week.

The winger’s biggest attribute is his acceleration and he carved open the Warriors defence at one point which eventually results in a Sale try. It’s such a fiercely competitive position in the national team and he was probably only the third best Scotland winger on the pitch with Steyn and Jamie Dobie both in excellent form.

However, with Duhan van der Merwe not having played for Edinburgh this season it possibly opens up a slot that he could fill. He’s certainly a very different athlete to the powerhouse Edinburgh ace and Townsend may opt for more depth in another area of the squad should a gap open up by Reed certainly didn’t do his chances any harm on Saturday.

The same can’t be said for scrum-half Gus Warr unfortunately. The twice capped half-back had an up and down match which started with a sin binning for illegally collapsing a maul and included an inexplicable ‘brain fart’ moment where he rolled the ball forward at the base of a ruck which referee Craig Evans rightly pinged as a knock on.

That moment of madness was punished as Glasgow went up the pitch and scored. Overall, an afternoon to forget the 27-year-old who is a serviceable option for Scotland in that position but is in no danger of overtaking any of Ben White or George Horne at this moment in time.

In fact, if Townsend is looking to add a different option at nine to his ranks, he would probably be better off turning to Edinburgh’s Hector Patterson who has had a very strong start to the new season with the capital club.

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