Grant Stewart signs for two more years t Glasgow Warriors

Grant Stewart want to continue his 'learning' at Scotstoun. Picture: SNS.

The 24-year-old hooker, who learned the game with Strathaven and Dalziel, took an unusual route into the pro game for a modern player. Having not been included in the SRU’s academy system or the Scotland Under-20s programme, he made his mark playing club rugby for Premiership side Glasgow Hawks during the 2016-17 season, catching the eye of the Warriors coaching staff who parachuted him into the squad during an injury crisis midway through the following season.

Stewart made his Glasgow Warriors debut against Leinster in January 2018 and ended up going to America on tour with the national side that summer as emergency injury cover for Stuart McInally, despite having just seven bench appearance in the pro game  to his name.

He has now played 32 games for Warriors and picked up three full caps during last summer’s World Cup warm-up matches against France and Georgia. Having had a taste of the big time he is hungry for more, and believes that competing against Fraser Brown and George Turner for game time at Glasgow is the best place for him to  achieve that.

“I learned a bit more about the professionalism required [last summer],” he explained. “Coming in a wee bit late, I maybe wasn’t looking after myself well enough or looking closely at the small details in my game that make the difference, so I picked up a few things [whilst training with the Scotland squad] that I should be doing more regularly to make sure that I am always improving.

“I just soaked it up and have tried to bring it back to Glasgow. If I want to play international rugby then I have to beat the boys who are already there, so going up against them for selection at Glasgow is a really good way to push me on.”

Stewart is the 12th player to re-commit at Glasgow Warriors this season, following on from Ryan Wilson, Peter Horne, Nick Grigg, Ali Price, Rob Harley, Tommy Seymour, Kyle Steyn, Fraser Brown, Matt Fagerson, Oli Kebble and Stafford McDowall.

Meanwhile, Richie Gray and Argentinean prop Enrique Pieretto have been recruited from Toulouse and Exeter Chiefs, respectively.

It has already been confirmed that Jonny Gray is leaving to join Exeter Chiefs next season, while Rory Hughes and Matt Smith are out on loan to Leicester Tigers and Edinburgh, respectively, ahead of their contracts running out in the summer.