Glasgow Warriors' Ally Miller time pays off as back-rower dines out on 7s experience

Flanker is taking his chance at Scotstoun amid injury crisis

The reasoning behind Franco Smith’s team sheet tinkering often doesn’t reveal itself until much further down the line.

The Glasgow Warriors head coach has never been one for maintaining a consistency of selection, instead sliding players in and out of the line-up regardless of form, opponent or pedigree. It was that big picture thinking that saw Ally Miller given opportunities off the bench earlier in the season, the back-rower accumulating minutes against Leinster, Connacht, Ospreys, Benetton and then Northampton Saints.

The true value of giving him that exposure has only become apparent over the past fortnight. Injuries to Jack Dempsey and Matt Fagerson have contributed to Miller being handed an opportunity to start the Champions Cup match away to Bayonne and then at home to Edinburgh in the first leg of the 1872 Cup. After four seasons at the capital club where he failed to establish himself, Miller is hoping this represents the start of him becoming a regular first-team option.

Warriors' Ally Miller scores a try during a the victory over Edinburgh.

“It’s been a big boost [to his confidence to be given the chance to start],” he confirmed. “You just try and do whatever you can through the week in training. I try to take a lot of responsibility during the week in the lineout. You want to wear the jersey as often as possible, so you do all you can to impress Franco in training. There have been a few knocks recently, so it’s really just about taking your opportunity when it comes. Every minute you get on the pitch, you really need to make the most of it because it’s such a competitive environment.”

The 27 year-old has certainly done as much, embellishing strong performances with tries in each outing, both times receiving the ball in the open and haring down the wing to score. He credits some of that to his background as a 7s player that includes representing Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but doesn’t envisage making a full-time switch from flanker to winger any time soon.

“No, not quite, I won’t be playing there!” he added with a smile. “I don’t quite have that pace yet. I was part of the 7s program for quite a while. I had a lot of fun there, developing my skills and my speed. It comes in useful. Glasgow want to spread the ball around, so my 7s background obviously helps me in that regard. I don’t think about [scoring tries] too much, but I always back myself if I get into the right position. A little bit of space opened up for me against Edinburgh so I was happy to take it.”

Miller’s try helped Glasgow stretch their first-leg lead to 12 points ahead of Saturday’s return at Murrayfield, but the message was clear: this isn’t over yet. “After the game on Friday, Franco stressed to us that we’re only at half-time,” he stressed. “We’ve always looked at these games as a double-header. We need to regroup and build for next week because it’s going to be another tough game. It’s always good to play in front of a big crowd. We had it recently at Bayonne. It’s always good when the crowd gets on top of you. I’ve been across here at Glasgow for a while now, but obviously it’s nice to get a win against your old club.”