{"id":489998,"date":"2025-10-11T03:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489998\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T03:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:36:14","slug":"scotlands-autumn-handed-boost-as-glasgow-issue-3-player-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489998\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s Autumn handed boost as Glasgow issue 3-player update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scotland<\/a> have received a major fillip ahead of the Autumn Nations Series<\/a> with a trio of Glasgow<\/a> forwards taking \u201cbig steps forward\u201d in their attempts to be available for next month\u2019s Tests.<\/p>\n

Key tighthead prop Zander Fagerson<\/a>, who was forced to miss the British and Irish Lions<\/a> tour of Australia<\/a> with a calf injury before subsequently picking up a knee issue in the gym during his rehabilitation in pre-season, has not played for six months.<\/p>\n

No.8 Jack Dempsey<\/a> was on the verge of making his competitive return a fortnight ago in Glasgow\u2019s URC opener against Sharks<\/a> after six months out with a hamstring injury, before pulling out with a groin issue sustained in the warm-up.<\/p>\n

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Flanker Rory Darge<\/a>, meanwhile, sustained MCL damage in his knee against the Sharks on 26 September, with an estimated four-to-six weeks recovery time leaving him a race to be fit for the start of the series against USA<\/a> on 1 November or Scotland\u2019s biggest autumn Test against New Zealand<\/a> a week later.<\/p>\n

But Glasgow head coach Franco Smith<\/a> delivered a positive bulletin on all three players on Friday, with Dempsey and Fagerson possibly in line for some game-time over the next fortnight \u2013 Glasgow have an away trip to Ospreys<\/a> next weekend and a home game against Bulls<\/a> on 24 October \u2013 before Scotland\u2019s internationals get under way.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

United Rugby Championship<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Glasgow <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dragons RFC <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAll three of them have made big improvements this week, big steps forward.
\u201cWith Jack, I have just watched him run out there. He looks in good form and might be available for selection next week. We\u2019ll obviously wait for the final clearance around that on Monday or Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cZander also has been training well. He\u2019s done his RTP (return-to-play) skills and running work. He\u2019s progressing very nicely.<\/p>\n

\u201cRory Darge is out of his brace and he\u2019s been pain-free. That leads to progression from an RTP perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo some big steps forward and a compliment to the medical team and the S&C staff that worked really hard this week to make sure those boys get a fair chance of being selected for Scotland in the autumn series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagerson\u2019s brother Matt, who started both Glasgow\u2019s opening URC games against Sharks and Benetton<\/a> at No.8, picked up an ankle knock and misses Saturday\u2019s home fixture against Dragons, but Smith said the back-rower was going to be rested anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was a semi-final or quarter-final or final (he could play),\u201d he explained. \u201cBut it\u2019s in the middle (of a five-week block of URC matches). All the Scottish players that have a chance to play in the autumn series will be involved in four out of the five games, to make sure we give them enough time to be fully fit, enough continuity in some cases, but also enough time to reset them before they go into the autumn Test matches. We don\u2019t want them to play seven, eight games on the trot at the start of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Scotland contender, Alex Craig<\/a>, a summer signing from Scarlets, will make his debut for Warriors on Saturday after shaking off a hamstring injury, joining Lion Scott Cummings<\/a> in the second row.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing him play,\u201d Smith said of the 28-year-old, who won the last of his six Scotland caps against Australia last autumn. \u201cWe tried to get him here last year already and it didn\u2019t work out that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe trained really hard to get back into shape after his injury leading into the first part of the pre-season, so we\u2019re excited to add him to the Warrior family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a set-piece driven player. His breakdown work is really good, whether it be carrying or cleaning. Sometimes that\u2019s what a No. 4 lock brings you. I don\u2019t want to call him an old-school lock, but he\u2019s a hard worker, a no-nonsense type of player. He\u2019ll bring some grunt that we expect from that position in our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also further opportunities against Dragons for the versatile Euan Ferrie<\/a> \u2013 one of Smith\u2019s hybrid \u2018flocks\u2019 \u2013 to start at No.8 and Maccenzie Duncan, player of the match against Benetton, at openside, while sometime Scotland full-back Ollie Smith<\/a> takes over from Stafford McDowall<\/a> at outside centre, where he was also deployed last season on his return from a long-term knee injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to play full-back for us, he\u2019s played on the wing \u2013 good utility,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s about having good rugby players \u2013 Stafford\u2019s been on the side of the scrum \u2013 and having the best players out there. If they\u2019re willing and ready to move and willing to be seen as hybrid players, people that can play different roles, it makes their chance for selection so much better. But it also enhances the chance to play for Scotland in various roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Glasgow player who hasn\u2019t found favour with Scotland is hooker Johnny Matthews<\/a>, a cult hero at Warriors having scored 48 tries in 99 games (and only 48 starts) for the club over the past five years.<\/p>\n

Matthews, 32, finished as the URC\u2019s top try-scorer when Glasgow won the title in 2023-24, finishing with 15 overall in 23 club games, after 13 in 19 the previous year. He added another nine last year to move joint-third on Warriors\u2019 all-time list alongside Tommy Seymour<\/a>, with just George Horne<\/a> (59) and DTH van der Merwe (54) ahead of him.<\/p>\n

But despite marking his Scotland debut with a try as a replacement against Romania<\/a> at the 2023 World Cup, Matthews has only added one more cap \u2013 against Portugal<\/a> last autumn \u2013 to his collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Johnny\u2019s a very good club player and the rare opportunities that he got to play at Test level, I think he was stressed,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI think the expectation around him was different.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have played more Test match rugby, but he has played in an era where there were some good hookers about and they\u2019ve had a lot of caps. I think he\u2019s had his opportunity there but as long as he keeps on making himself better \u2013 I know he\u2019s past the 30 mark (32) now \u2013 he\u2019s still got enough in him to keep asking those types of questions to be able to play there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews is sure to get a warm welcome from the Scotstoun faithful when he makes his 100th appearance for the club off the bench against the Dragons.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like players that score tries,\u201d Smith added. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t disappoint from that perspective. He\u2019s a try-scoring machine for the club. He\u2019s done really well at the back of the maul for us and he\u2019s obviously added a lot of value.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an energetic person to have around the building. He had some good hookers that he started off with, between Fraser Brown<\/a> and George Turner. He kept on gaining opportunities and he made full use of them.
\u201cTo get to 100 games for any player is a massive compliment, but to do it here is an extremely good achievement. The thing that stands out is that Johnny is a good person and he\u2019s also a good influence on the group. I\u2019m very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glasgow team v Dragons:<\/strong>15 Josh McKay; 14 Kyle Steyn<\/a> (C), 13 Ollie Smith<\/a>, 12 Sione Tuipulotu<\/a>, 11 Jamie Dobie; 10 Adam Hastings<\/a>, 9 George Horne; 1 Rory Sutherland<\/a>, 2 Gregor Hiddleston<\/a>, 3 Fin Richardson, 4 Alex Craig, 5 Scott Cummings<\/a>, 6 Gregor Brown<\/a>, 7 Macenzzie Duncan<\/a>, 8 Euan Ferrie.<\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/strong> 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Patrick Schickerling<\/a>, 18 Murphy Walker<\/a>, 19 Alex Samuel<\/a>, 20 Max Williamson<\/a>, 21 Angus Fraser<\/a>, 22 Ben Afshar<\/a>, 23 Dan Lancaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland have received a major fillip ahead of the Autumn Nations Series with a trio of Glasgow forwards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-489998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115353449824573860","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}