DUNCAN Weir was unable to celebrate a victory in his first Glasgow Warriors game for five years, but Friday night’s 7-12 loss to Newcastle was in many respects a happy homecoming all the same for the 30-year-old.
For one thing, the stand-off scored the try and conversion that gave his team a half-time lead, finishing off the move with a turn of speed which he admitted surprised him. Of greater lasting significance, the match saw the Warriors fans return to Scotstoun for the first time in 19 months, and although the lack of the two temporary stands meant the attendance was only half of the normal capacity, the atmosphere was still excellent compared to the eerie silences that have prevailed during the pandemic.
More importantly, however, and despite the final score, Weir, who was named man of the match, felt that his team had displayed a number of promising touches in their first of two pre-season friendlies. “I thought we played some really good stuff,” he said, after the Falcons had seized the win with a last-minute score from centre George Wacokecoke to add to an earlier try from Callum Chick, converted by Will Haydon-Wood.
“I’ve always had a really good reception at Scotstoun from the Glasgow fans, and it made it extra special to get over the line. I’m just glad I got over the line and made it there! It’s always good when you see the line in front of you. It was good that we were clinical as a team to get that score on the board.
“As a collective we’ve had maybe three 15-on-15 sessions, so we’ve not had much time in the saddle to really cement things in place. We’re disappointed at not winning the game as we played the better stuff in terms of possession and territory - we left a couple of tries out there. But we’ve got another week now to get some good sessions in and I think we can take good confidence from what we did and try to make things click a wee bit smoother in the following weeks.”
Glasgow now visit Weir’s old club Worcester on Friday, and the playmaker hopes his team can build on their performance against Newcastle and finish off more than once this time. “It will be a good test for us,” he added.
“They’ll field their first-string team with their league starting a week ahead of ours, so it’s going to be a good challenge. We’ll just use this game as another opportunity to work on the fine margins and try to make them click and get over the whitewash a few more times.”
Some of the players who missed out on Friday through injury or isolation will be back for the visit to Sixways Stadium, but Ratu Tagive looks likely to miss out on both that match and the start of the season in the new United Rugby Championship after suffering a suspected broken jaw against the Falcons. The winger played on until the break after sustaining the blow in the first half, but did not reappear for the second 40 minutes, with Stirling County winger Logan Trotter taking his place.
Glasgow’s first game in the URC is away to Ulster on Friday 24th, after which they have two matches against South African sides, first the Sharks and then the Lions. “It’s great that we’ve got a tough away leg in Ulster and then a couple of games at home to back that up,” Weir continued. “The South African teams won’t have visited Scotstoun before, so it’s a great opportunity for us to get some momentum going before the next stage of the season.”
It has not escaped the notice of Warriors fans that neither those games nor the three home fixtures which follow are on a Friday, which has been the traditional preference for Scotstoun matches for some time now. Weir was loath to say too much on the issue, but insisted that diplomatic pressure was ongoing in the hope that the second half of the season would see the restoration of Friday games in at least some cases.
“That’s a wee bit above our pay grade,” he added. “But there’s a rich history of Friday nights at Scotstoun and before that at Firhill. The club is working hard behind the scenes to bring as many Friday-night games to Scotstoun as we can.”
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