SAM Johnson has become the latest Glasgow Warriors player to commit his future to the club, having signed a contract extension of unspecified length.
The 27-year-old inside centre joins team-mates such as Tom Gordon and Sean Kennedy in agreeing to extend his stay at Scotstoun, while head coach Danny Wilson has also recruited Duncan Weir for next season and Ian Keatley for the rest of this.
“I’m excited to re-sign with the club,” the Scotland international said on the team’s official website, glasgowwarriors.org. “Glasgow is my home and to be able to sign for a few more years is a great boost for me. There are exciting times ahead for the club, and I’m very fortunate for Glasgow and Scottish Rugby to give me the opportunity to continue to work hard with Danny and the rest of the coaching team to build something special at Scotstoun.”
Born in Australia, Johnson played rugby league as well as union in his native Queensland, and joined Glasgow in 2015 after making a couple of appearances for the Reds in Super Rugby. He qualified for Scotland on residence grounds in late 2018, went on to make his debut for Gregor Townsend’s side against Italy in the following year’s Six Nations Championship, and now has 15 caps.
“Sam’s a really exciting midfield player both sides of the ball,”
said Wilson, who first worked with Johnson when he was one of Townsend’s assistant coaches. “He’s an intelligent player who has a real understanding of the game, and he uses that to bring the best out of the players around him.
“He’s someone I’ve got to know well over the last couple of years while I’ve been in Scotland and I’ve really enjoyed working with him. I think it’s great that we can retain another Scottish internationalist of Sam’s calibre and we look forward to him pulling on the Glasgow jersey on many more occasions over the next few years.”
Johnson missed out on the Warriors’ home win over Edinburgh in the PRO14 last weekend as he was self-isolating after being deemed a close contact of someone who had tested positive for Covid. However, he is expected to be named today in the Scotland squad for the Six Nations, and will be available to play in the opening game of the Championship against England at Twickenham on 6 February.
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