Glasgow Warriors still have work to do despite big win at Newcastle Falcons

Glasgow Warriors fly to South Africa next week, buoyed by their convincing 27-17 away win against Newcastle Falcons on Friday night which booked their place in the last eight of the Challenge Cup, but two-try hero Kyle Steyn insists that there is no danger of hubris taking hold.

Glasgow Warriors are into the last eight of the Challenge Cup.

Warriors will play two matches against the Stormers in Cape Town and the Bulls in Pretoria during the next fortnight, before returning to Europe for their quarter-final clash against Lyon on the weekend of May 6-8.

“We’re stoked that we came down to Newcastle and got good win but we know that there is still a little bit to work on from that second half – that’s our big focus area – but we’re chuffed to bits to get through the first knock-out rugby of the season and get going,” said Steyn.

Warriors scored three unanswered tries in a totally dominant opening period against Falcons to lead 19-3 at the break but went off the boil in the second half when the try-count was 2-1 in the home team’s favour. The win was never really in doubt, but Steyn was quick to highlight that, as the stakes go up towards the end of the season, it is going to be vital for the team can play close to their peak for longer than 40 minutes.

“We’re notorious at the moment for not seeing starts like that out, so we won’t get ahead of ourselves. We know we’ve got a lot of away games now, two in South Africa then Lyon, so those are a lot of tough challenges,” he added.

Initially from Johannesburg, Steyn – who qualifies for Scotland through his Glaswegian mother – says he is looking forward to getting back on familiar territory during the next few weeks.

“I was at Stellenbosch uni and that’s where we’re staying, in the uni town, so I can’t wait to go back to my old stomping ground,” he smiled.

“At the Stormers, there’s the No 9, Paul de Wet, that I was at uni with. The Bulls have a fly-half, Chris Smith, who is one of my best mates. I’ve played against most of the guys, even if Oli Kebble will probably know a lot more of them.

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