Zander Fagerson has strong Glasgow Warriors message despite recent fine run

Glasgow Warriors prop Zander Fagerson knows what is at stake for the club.

Already through to their first-ever European semi-final and closing in on a home quarter-final in the URC play-offs, the Warriors are currently enjoying their best run of results for some years. Fagerson credits head coach Franco Smith for being instrumental in that progress since taking charge eight months ago, but he insisted it was now up to the players to repay the South African.

“Franco came in and he was all about honesty and hard work,” the Scotland tighthead said. “He definitely instilled that in us from the first day of pre-season until now. Boys are gelling well, we know how we want to play and we’re fitter - we’re reaping the rewards from that. But it doesn’t matter how well your season has gone up until now if you don’t back it up in the games towards the end of the season. So we’ve got to keep training hard and put the performances out on the pitch that we know we’re capable of.”

Last Friday’s 31-21 win over the Lions has taken the Warriors through to a Challenge Cup semi-final against the Scarlets in Wales at the end of the month, and the Welsh team are Glasgow’s opponents this Friday too when they visit Scotstoun on league duty. The Warriors – nine places ahead of the Scarlets in the league table – are favourites to get the win they need to secure that home URC quarter-final But the Scarlets were highly impressive in their own Challenge Cup quarter-final win last weekend, coming from behind in the closing minutes to beat Clermont-Auvergne 32-30. So Fagerson, while confident that his side can win, insisted they would not under-estimate their Welsh opponents.

“Scarlets are going really well,” said Fagerson. “We watched that Clermont game and they’ve got a really dangerous backline as well as a really solid forward pack with two big Tongans in the second row. It was a really close game against Clermont: they pushed them for the full 80 minutes. Scarlets scored some great counter-attacks and they’ve got some real electric wingers as well. They’ve got threats all over the park. We’ve had some good ding-dongs in years gone by, so it’s a challenge we’re not taking lightly. We’ll need to be on the money on Friday. But with the boys that we’ve got and the way that we’ve been playing, if we stick to our game plan I’m sure we can get the win.”

As his country’s first choice in the most important position in the scrum - and arguably in the whole team – Fagerson knows that his principal job is exerting his sheer physical power. But under Smith he has been given more of a chance to make his presence felt in the loose as well, and admitted to enjoying that more varied role. “The key thing for me still is the fundamentals – scrum and maul and hit my breakdowns,” the prop added. “If I get a few carries that’s a bonus. But I seem to be getting my hands on ball. It’s a side of the game that I enjoy and it’s another way of getting stuck into the opposition. I’ll take that at every opportunity.”