Ryan Wilson hopes Leone Nakarawa will re-sign for Glasgow in new year

Scotland back-rower Ryan Wilson is resigned to the fact that the return of his good friend Leone Nakarawa to Glasgow won’t be a Christmas gift under the tree, but he is hopeful the Fijian fan favourite could well be back as a New Year’s boost to the club.

Ryan Wilson is tackled by George Taylor during the Guinness Pro14 match between Glasgow and Edinburgh at Scotstoun. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS/SRU

Nakarawa has had talks about a move to Scotstoun after he was released by Racing 92 following his late return from the World Cup. Both Wilson and the lock/No 8 were stand-out performers in the Warriors’ Pro12 title triumph in 2015, and the Scotland forward said he’d love nothing better than to have him on board for the second half of the season.

“He’s not coming around for Christmas. He’s away in Fiji at the moment I think. He’s been in touch, I speak to him quite a bit,” said Wilson.

“I’d love to enjoy New Year with him. I’d love more than anything for Leone to come to Glasgow. It would mean everything to the club to have a player like that back here. That would be incredible because he is such an amazing player and a good man as well.”

For now, Wilson’s focus is on this Saturday’s 1872 Cup rematch with Edinburgh after helping his side to a 20-16 opening-leg win at Scotstoun on Saturday.

“We wanted an 80-minute performance. In patches we didn’t get it but, for most of it, there was a lot of brutality out there. We are pleased with that,” he said.

The win gives a timely shot in the arm to Glasgow’s average season so far, but 
Wilson insists confidence has not been hit by those four Pro14 defeats and two in the Heineken Champions Cup to date. “No. When we look at videos upstairs, coming on a Monday and go through it, we are doing so much good stuff,” he said.

“That’s the frustrating thing. You can look at results but we know on the inside that we’re doing things right and if we are just a little bit more clinical, then we can cut things open.

“There is a point where it all comes together. You might see games where everything goes perfectly well, but we just have to be a little bit better when things aren’t perfect.”

Things certainly weren’t “perfect” on Saturday but there was a lot to admire about Glasgow’s spirit in finding a way to win at the end against Edinburgh.

“This week we spoke about how important it was, not only for our league but because we didn’t do very well in the 1872 Cup last season and we wanted to make amends for that,” said Wilson. “Also, being back at home. We pride ourselves on being a good team at home but we didn’t turn up against Leinster and then a few things went wrong against La Rochelle.

“We had two losses at home in a row, which is not good enough at all by our standards. I think we will take a massive confidence boost from this game and then use it against them when we go to Murrayfield.

“It was a bit scrappy [at the weekend], not helped by five yellow cards. But you grind them out and probably feel better after games like those than when you’ve run away with it.”