Jonny Gray and Henry Pyrgos share Glasgow Warriors captaincy

Glasgow captain Jonny Gray will share the honour of skippering the side this season with Scotland team-mate Henry Pyrgos, Warriors have announced.
Glasgow Warriors' Jonny Gray, left, will share the captaincy with Henry Pyrgos. Picture: SNSGlasgow Warriors' Jonny Gray, left, will share the captaincy with Henry Pyrgos. Picture: SNS
Glasgow Warriors' Jonny Gray, left, will share the captaincy with Henry Pyrgos. Picture: SNS

Lock Gray took over from former captain Al Kellock last year and went on to lead the Warriors to the Guinness Pro12 play-offs.

Now head coach Gregor Townsend has decided to split the role, with scrum-half Pyrgos - who has led out both his club and national team on occasion in recent months - taking on more permanent responsibilities.

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Explaining his decision, Townsend said: “We were really impressed with Jonny’s development as team captain last season and we believe having co-captains will make us even stronger this year.

“It’s great that we have a number of leaders throughout our squad and both captains will have a lot of support.

“The complementary strengths of Jonny and Henry should enable us to get closer to reaching our potential.”

Pyrgos, 27, captained Scotland during this summer’s 21-16 win over Japan in Tokyo as well as clashes with Ireland and USA last year.

He said: “I care a lot about this club and it’s an exciting thing for us to be co-captains. I think it’ll be an added bonus for the team, to help us get to where we want to go.

“It’s going to be slightly different to what I’ve done before, but we get on really well.

“It’s great that I’m captaining with Jonny and there are a lot of other senior guys in the squad who drive standards and lead by example.”

Gray added: “It’s a massive honour to have been named co-captain. Glasgow is a club I love and it’s where I’m from.

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“We have a number of leaders throughout the squad and guys who have captained before, but it’s great to have Henry there with his experience and his knowledge of the game.

“He’s captained Scotland and is a great guy, so it’s an honour to share the captaincy with him.”