Glasgow are ready to fight Sharks and Lions after taming Bulls

Having bullied the Bulls, Glasg o w Wa r r i o r s w i l l s e e k t o avoid being bitten by Sharks a n d L i o n s a s t h e y h e a d t o South Africa for the fifth and s i x t h r o u n d s o f t h e U n i t e d Rugby Championship.

Fr a n c o S mi t h’s s i d e we r e highly impressive in Saturday night’s 35-21 win at Scotstoun, particularly in the first 40 minutes as they secured a bonus p oint b efore half-time. The Bulls came into the game on the back of three wins but were outmuscled and outplayed by a home side who scored tries through Matt Fagerson, Sebastian Cancelliere, S cott Cummings, George Horne and Josh Mckay. The trick for the coach and his players is to reproduce this form on the road.

You have to go back to Janu a r y 2 9 f o r G l a s g o w ’s l a s t away win in the league. Since beating Connacht in Galway they’ve lost eight consecutive games on their travels in the URC, six last season and two in the current campaign, against Benetton and Ospreys.

Smith, who took over from D a n ny Wi l s o n i n t h e s u mmer, wi l l u s e t h e n ex t f o r tnight in South Africa to better acquaint himself with a squad who seem almost unbeatable at Scotstoun but are stricken by some sort of affliction when they leave home.

“We h a d t o l e a r n l e s s o n s from what happened against B enetton in round one and against the Ospreys last week about what you need to do to win away from home,” said Smith. “So, we are going to take those lessons and apply them against the Sharks next week.

“We are already developing a really good relationship with o n e a n o t h e r, b u t t h e s e t wo weeks away together will help us really develop that.”

W h i l e s a t i s f i e d w i t h t h e result against last year’s finalists, Smith knows winning in South Africa is a step up.

“There is still a lot to improve on and that’s the best part for me,” said the coach.

“We worked hard all pre-season knowing that we would have to match the South African teams physically, and that wa s i mp o r t a n t t o wh a t we managed to achieve on S aturday.

“The momentum was taken away from us in the second half because we had 10 penalties blown against us, so we couldn’t build anything. But the benefit of that is that we have to win with the ball and without it, and we did that with the way we defended. Mentally and physically, we stayed t o u g h whe n t h i n g s we r e n’t going our way.”

Ma t t Fa g e r s o n , p i c ke d a t No 8 i n t h e a b s e n c e o f t h e ↑ Matt Fagerson shone in Glasgow Warriors’ impressive 35-21 victory over the Bulls at Scotstoun

injured Jack Dempsey, was excellent, scoring the first try and being a regular thorn in the visitors’ side. Interestingly, he feels Dempsey’s presence has spurred him on.

“I felt I had plateaued a little bit,” said Fagerson. “I had a g r e a t t e n u r e u n d e r D ave Rennie then I didn’t think I’d improved that much.

"But having Jack here has

really pushed my game on. He’s a quality player, a different sort of player to me but he’s definitely improved my game and I love going out there with him.”