{"id":701577,"date":"2026-01-17T06:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701577\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:56:14","slug":"scotland-star-returns-as-glasgow-face-side-packed-with-international-calibre-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701577\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland star returns as Glasgow face side ‘packed with international-calibre talent’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Glasgow<\/a> have recalled Scotland<\/a> flanker Rory Darge<\/a> and versatile back Ollie Smith<\/a> to their side for Sunday\u2019s final Investec Champions Cup<\/a> Pool 1 showdown with Saracens.<\/p>\n

Openside Darge takes over from Euan Ferrie<\/a> \u2013 who drops to the bench \u2013 in the back row, with Matt Fagerson<\/a> reverting to blindside flanker.<\/p>\n

Smith, whose last three starts have been at full-back, comes onto the left wing, with Jamie Dobie<\/a> rested as part of his player-management programme.<\/p>\n

Toulon-bound Huw Jones<\/a>, who marked his comeback from five months out with a trademark try in last weekend\u2019s 33-21 win at Clermont<\/a> Auvergne, again starts at outside centre, with Stafford McDowall<\/a> among the replacements on a six-two bench split.<\/p>\n

Warriors, who have a maximum 15 points from their opening three pool games, know that victory at Scotstoun would guarantee they are one of the top two seeds heading into the last 16, ensuring home advantage if they progress through the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Investec Champions Cup<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Glasgow <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Saracens <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But Saracens, who like Glasgow in December, upset six-time champions Toulouse<\/a> last week, also know that victory on Sunday could see them top Pool 1 and bolster their seeding for the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaracens<\/a> possess a strong pedigree in the Investec Champions Cup, something that they will be eager to continue this weekend,\u201d said head coach Franco Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir squad is packed with international-calibre talent and we know that they will come here with a direct, physical game plan that we will need to be at our best to match.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Montpellier-bound Adam Hastings<\/a> still sidelined with a knee injury, Dan Lancaster<\/a> continues at No.10 while scrum-half George Horne<\/a>, Glasgow\u2019s all-time record try-scorer with 62, will play his 150th game for Warriors on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud to see George reach 150 appearances for the club \u2013 he is someone who gives his heart and soul for Glasgow Warriors every time he steps onto the field, and we know how much reaching this milestone will mean to him,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n

Glasgow team v Saracens:<\/strong> 15 Kyle Rowe<\/a>, 14 Kyle Steyn<\/a> C, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu<\/a>, 11 Ollie Smith; 10 Dan Lancaster<\/a>, 9 George Horne; 1 Patrick Schickerling<\/a>, 2 Gregor Hiddleston<\/a>, 3 Zander Fagerson<\/a>, 4 Alex Craig<\/a>, 5 Scott Cummings<\/a>, 6 Matt Fagerson<\/a>, 7 Rory Darge<\/a>, 8 Jack Dempsey.<\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/strong> 16 Seb Stephen<\/a>, 17 Rory Sutherland<\/a>, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Max Williamson<\/a>, 20 Gregor Brown<\/a>, 21 Euan Ferrie<\/a>, 22 Stafford McDowall<\/a>, 23 Ben Afshar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glasgow have recalled Scotland flanker Rory Darge and versatile back Ollie Smith to their side for Sunday\u2019s final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-701577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115909138026250882","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701577","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=701577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}