Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

INTO BATTLE WITH THE WARRIORS This evening, with autumn visibly and chillingly here, we will see Kingspan Stadium thunderingly brought to life. Article by Rod Nawn Freelance Journalist and Sports Enthusiast @RODNAWN1

previously struggled as the game in Scotland continued to create muddle and confusion on and off the pitch. Almost instantly the Warriors confirmed their intent with a PRO12 final appearance, a feat repeated last year, and a scan of the squad today proves the quality Townsend showed as a player is being mirrored in those he now guides. Stuart Hogg – who might have been in a white jersey this evening had rumoured negotiations last year taken a particular turn – is a full-back coveted throughout Europe, while Tommy Seymour’s rise to international status after he left Belfast three years ago is a consequence of having the confidence of his coach and his team-mates. The much-travelled Euan Murray, another Lion, is still a prop forward of the top rank, while out-half Duncan Weir, locks Jonny Gray and captain Ali Kellock are Scottish internationals upon whom the fans are investing faith for the future. Sean Lamont is a force of nature in midfield and is his country’s second most-decorated player of all time. Townsend has bolstered his squad from around the world, to maintain a genuinely Scottish core but unafraid to include the best talent from around the world. Canadian Daniel Tailliferre Hauman van der Merwe was already at Scotstown when the new coach took the reins, but he has flourished further and is now the club’s all-time record try-scorer. With Seymour – who scored twice in the six-try win last week in Treviso – he provides a threat from the flanks, but what Ulster supporter would swap the prolific Andrew Trimble or Tommy Bowe? It promises to be a wonderful match-up. Ulster got back on track with an intelligent if hardly spectacular defeat of Edinburgh last weekend, that Scottish team arriving at Kingspan with a clear plan to strangle home enterprise at birth. For 30 minutes it made for sorry viewing, but a bonus point win was secured by playing to strengths and there was something to smile about in the displays of centre Stuart McCloskey and Hughes Insurance Academy lock, Alan O’Connor. So third-placed Ulster meet the table-toppers this evening, at the end of the first phase of Guinness PRO12 fixtures. Les Kiss, Neil Doak, Jonny Bell and Allen Clarke will want the team to signal its readiness to find an extra gear. Their first and only priority today is a win over the Warriors, and a performance of cohesion, power, pace and concentration. Europe can wait, first let Gregor Townsend experience a rare downside to his tenure with the Warriors. These are two sides bristling with experience and proven talent, it should be a thriller.

The weekend’s biggest game is a top-of-the-table clash between an ambitious, trophy-hungry Ulster and the brightest jewel in Scotland’s rather fading rugby crown. Glasgow Warriors is a club that is bucking the rather unfortunate trend at home, in a few short years becoming PRO12 and European contenders while Edinburgh struggles, the club structures are in transition, and the international side seemingly in sharp decline. The building process at the Warriors’ tight, often intimidating Scotstoun base, has been purposeful and single-minded, and for the success which has come Glasgow’s way the credit in huge part must go to a Head Coach of real enterprise, imagination and extraordinary experience. Gregor Townsend would have been a go-to name in any era as a player, and his 82 international ‘caps’ evidence of a talent which saw him fill key roles in the Scottish backline for a decade. At out-half, as a free-running creative centre, or as a full-back with a solid defence but an instinct for attack Townsend was a star, respected by his peers across the world. His career in the professional game reads like a trip around the rugby planet, starting in the mid-nineties with the rugby ‘academy’ in Northampton, then there was a successful spell in the no-nonsense French game, first with Brive, then with Castres, before signing for Natal Sharks and Montpellier, short stints back home with the now-defunct Borders in its different guises sandwiched in between his stays in the two hemispheres. His leggy athleticism, his shrewd rugby brain, elevated Townsend into a pantheon of truly great players, and as a Lion his CV just gathered more and more accolades until his retirement and instant recruitment into the Scottish coaching set-up with primary responsibility for the backline. His reputation survived a tumultuous period at Murrayfield and players like the Lamont brothers, Chris Cusiter and Chris Paterson hugely benefitted from his tutelage. Just over two years ago, though, the Scottish Rugby Union decided that he could best be employed in developing the Glasgow side into a real force, the country’s flailing efforts at breathing life into regional clubs apparently only diluting an already depleted pool of talent. With a decisiveness which surprised some brought up on his expansive, often intelligently high-risk playing career, Townsend assessed his playing and coaching resources in the second city, strengthened in all those areas, his own reputation attracting ‘names’ who’d

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