Kyle Steyn says Glasgow Warriors are ready for a strong end to the season. Image: © Craig Watson –
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KYLE STEYN says Glasgow Warriors have “never stopped talking about” their desire to retain the URC trophy and warned their title rivals that the defending champions will be the aggressors in the run-in.
The Scots exited the Champions Cup physically and mentally bruised by a 52-0 thrashing from Leinster but turned the page in Parma on Saturday with a vital if scrappy 14-6 win over Zebre.
The victory secured a home quarter-final for Warriors with three games to spare and tightened their grip on second place in the URC standings, only behind their star-studded European conquerors from Dublin.
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With continental rugby no longer a distraction, Glasgow captain Steyn explained that there will now be a laser focus on attempting the extraordinary in the URC, although he does not want to think of it as a title ‘defence’.
“We’ve never stopped talking about it,” Steyn said. “We don’t want to ‘defend’ it, because if you get yourself into that position then I don’t think that’s a good mental state to be in.
“You’ve seen that teams are coming out to attack us and we’ve got to find a way to go out there and attack right back and get on the offensive. That’s where our heads are at.”
The imperfect win at the Stadio Lanfranchi, which Steyn admitted was “pretty ugly”, saw Glasgow recover from a shocking first-half performance to come back from 6-0 down with Josh McKay and Stafford McDowall tries.
With head coach Franco Smith making 10 changes to his injury-plagued squad against a well-rested Zebre side, it appeared to be a classic banana skin fixture.
But Glasgow showed their champion quality by finding a way to win when not at their best to put themselves in a strong position going into the business end of the season.
“There’s a belief that [winning the league] gives you. Playing in those big games under pressure and getting through,” Steyn said.
“We also know that we can’t talk about last year anymore. This is different, a different year, a different challenge.
“I think you’ve seen from the games across the weekend that everybody is taking it up a notch at this time of year.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of that, we’ve only got one home game (Bulls) then two on the road (Benetton and Leinster). This is what you want at this time of year when the pressure is high. We’ll take belief and march on.”
The win was of particular importance coming off the back of the crushing defeat to Leinster, a result Smith admitted was “the elephant in the room” ahead of kick-off in Parma.
“We were all really eager to get on the horse,” Steyn said. “Sometimes that’s just how it goes, we had a really good training week, and we were really excited for this.
“Then you get dragged into a scrappy game. That’s the beauty of rugby, you never know what you’re going to get. It was just important that under all that pressure we got the win.”
With a top-four spot sealed, Glasgow know that they will have the home comforts of Scotstoun when the play=offs kick off next month.
Before then, they face a tricky trio of games, at home to Bulls then away to Benetton and Leinster, which they will confront without a string of key players.
There were 14 absentees for the Saturday’s game, among them Scotland stars like Matt and Zander Fagerson, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu and Jack Dempsey, although the return from injury of man of the match Josh McKay and hooker Gregor Hiddleston was a boost.
Steyn remains upbeat about the strides Glasgow have taken in dealing with the inevitable physical toll taken on the squad by the latter end of a gruelling campaign.
“I think that’s one of our big strengths,” Steyn said. “We rotate throughout the year, we’ve got guys who have played a lot of rugby and are comfortable with these changes.
“It does pose challenges in building a rhythm, but that’s just one thing we learned from last year, that you’re never going to get it the way you want and whatever comes your way, whatever cards you’re dealt, you just have to deal with that.
“That’s where our heads are at. For me as a captain and for us as a leadership group, we will keep our finger on the pulse around that, but we’re pretty comfortable with where we’re at and where we’re going.”
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