‘A great squad’ makes a ‘great team’ – depleted Glasgow after derby win

Glasgow Warriors boss Franco Smith was pleased that his injury-ravaged side managed to claim a 22-10 win over Edinburgh in the 1872 Cup on Friday night.

It was a solid outing for the hosts who used poor discipline from Edinburgh against them as Glasgow went top of the table for the time being.

Injury crisis

Smith’s side is missing a number of key internationals with Jack Dempsey, Kyle Steyn, Ollie Smith, Matt Fagerson and Jamie Dobie all sidelined for Glasgow.

The coach was pleased with how the other players stood up in the circumstances.

“We’ve got 12 injuries, people who probably would have been involved in the game, but the other guys stepped up and that is the plan: to build a strong squad,” said Smith.

“I say always, you need a great squad to make a good team.”

Adding to the list of injuries could be hooker George Turner who left the field in the first period but Smith is not sure of the extent of the damage yet.

“It was just a shot to his bicep,” said Smith.

“We’ll assess it but it doesn’t look that serious at the moment. It’s serious enough but we’ll have a better idea when the medical team have done their job.”

⚪️ Ulster and Glasgow Warriors claim wins in their derby matches against Connacht and Edinburgh.

📋 Check out the match reports from Friday's #URC action. 👇https://t.co/i7e83l434Y

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) December 22, 2023

Uphill battle

For Edinburgh, it is an uphill battle to overturn the 12-point deficit in the second leg which will take place next weekend.

Senior coach Sean Everitt believes there is “no reason” that his team cannot turn the tide.

“It is a big deficit but rugby has a funny way of working itself out,” he said.

“If we play well and execute accurately, there’s no reason why we can’t get the score we need.”

Everitt lamented the poor discipline of his team in the final quarter and understands that discipline will need to improve next time out.

“We had a slow start in the first 20, it looked like we were a bit shaky, nervous,” said Everitt.

“But we managed to keep them to eight and then got back into the game pretty well before half-time.

“And then we were on top in the second half again but then came a lack of discipline. We conceded eight penalties in the last 24 minutes and if you do that against a team that mauls really well in these conditions, you’re going to be up against it, and obviously the yellow card didn’t help.”

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