Glasgow Warriors, eh? Pure dead brilliant, as they say in my home city.
What a pity their extraordinary success at the weekend was overshadowed by Scottish failure in Germany.
You can always tell when a team is on the down and out path when more attention is paid to the fans than the players. So it was with Scotland at Euro 24, and frankly the wonderful Tartan Army don’t deserve Steve Clarke and his squad whose limitations were mercilessly exposed on the big stage.
As Billy Connolly once said: “Scotland has the only football team in the world that does a lap of disgrace."
It’s a rumour that past leaders of Scottish national teams used to arrange for a showing of Braveheart to inspire their players, but Clarke on Saturday night or Sunday morning should have shown either the whole match or at least the highlights of the United Rugby Championship final so magnificently won by Glasgow Warriors.
I wrote last week that it they won it would be “the greatest Scottish club achievement of the open era” and now I would just like to put more simply – winning the URC is the greatest Scottish rugby achievement of the open era. Yes our national side has often raised its game, but the truth is that Scotland haven’t won anything since the last Five Nations of 1999, and now Glasgow have won their second championship following the Pro12 title win in season 2014-15.
Yet this was much the greater achievement given the way it was won. There were no South African teams in the Pro12, and the Warriors had to win this second title the very hard way.
Don’t forget they only finished fourth in the regular season and that gave them a hugely difficult path to glory, having to go to Limerick and beat Munster and then travel nearly 9,000 miles for the final in Pretoria against the mighty Bulls.
Facing their superlative squad backed by 50,000 fans, Glasgow came up trumps by doing what they have done so often – they found a way to win. The key to the victory was the never-say-die defence which the Warriors mounted. Most of their tackling was of the ferocious variety, and despite the odd failure at the lineout and scrum, the forwards did what I suggested last week and out-bulled the Bulls, the back row in particular imposing themselves on their opponents.
I watched it in a full bar on Glasgow’s south side. The place heaved with passion and the final roar when referee Andrea Piardi blew the final whistle just about took the roof off. Incidentally, I noticed how Glasgow ‘managed’ the referee who I thought had a fine game.
It would be invidious to single out any of the Warriors, but I am going to mention the genius that is Franco Smith.
He devised the game plan, he drilled Glasgow to play to his tactics, and then motivated them to put their bodies on the line and do so again, and again, and again. There’s been much talk about Smith moving upstairs and taking Gregor Townsend’s job as head coach to the national side. All I’m going to say is that when the vacancy occurs, the SRU should look no further than the incumbent at Scotstoun.
I know this might seem carping, but I have to say I was disappointed at the lack of public acknowledgement of Glasgow’s win, not least because it was a massively exciting game won by the Warriors in some style. Most of the media couldn’t take their attention off the footie in Germany, but this sports desk has given full coverage and today we are greatly featuring last night’s homecoming event at Scotstoun Stadium - this column is being written before that event, so I just hope all went to plan, and obviously if there are major announcements I’ll look a twat.
For I must ask where were the politicians who usually jump on any Scottish bandwagon? Where is the invitation to display the trophy at Holyrood? Where is the public acknowledgement of Glasgow’s feat by national and civic leadership?
I have been told that Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren was yesterday discussing how best to celebrate the Warriors’ championship win and I’m assured she was “thrilled” by the result, so I would anticipate at least a civic reception at some stage.
The SRU should also mark the championship by inviting Franco Smith and his squad to display the trophy not at the next Test at Murrayfield, because that’s against Fiji, but at the subsequent Test on Sunday, November 10, against South Africa, just to remind the world champion Springboks that we have some very good players here.
I can’t finish this column without paying a brief tribute to Bill McMurtrie, the long-serving rugby writer for the Glasgow Herald as it then was, who then moved into the administrative side of the sport with considerable success. Rugby in Glasgow and Scotland will miss him greatly.
