THE HERALD REPORTS

Warriors strike huge blow for Scotland
KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer January 19 2009
Sean Lineen believes his Glasgow Warriors side has set new standards for Scottish professional rugby after an epic win at Europe's richest and most successful club.

As he got on the team bus for the airport yesterday, the head coach reflected on eight days of rugby that had taken him from the depths of despair to the dizziest of heights in emotional terms.

Desolate and close to speechless after their fifth successive home defeat at the hands of Newport Gwent Dragons the previous week, he had voiced extreme frustration: "It's my third season as head coach and we're not giving up by any means. I'm still very energetic, but it makes it so hard when they perform like that."


Yesterday, following an astonishing 33-26 win against Toulouse's world select XV that has thrown the three- time Europe champions' 2008/09 title bid into disarray, he observed: "That's why you coach I suppose. It's fantastic. While there's a little bit of frustration when you consider some of our recent results, to come here and do that when we supposedly had no chance is phenomenal.

"We knew we had a chance and they worked so hard all week at the gameplan. We needed a bit of luck, but got it because of the hard work we put in. I'm thrilled for the players."

While Edinburgh had previously shown that Scottish teams could beat Toulouse, that was on home soil six years ago. The record in the city that is the biggest rugby hotbed in Europe, was quite different, with seven previous visits by Scottish sides having produced seven defeats, with the average margin more than 25 points.

Having expressed bewilderment at the cavalier way their plans against the Dragons had been ignored, Lineen's hope is that the entire team now appreciates what is required in terms of both workrate and concentration.

"The biggest thing is that my expectations of them are so high and now so is theirs," he said. "That could be difficult for them because this is such a high for Scottish rugby and we haven't been there before so that is where we, as coaches, have to help them. We want to move on to another level and we can do it."

The coach noted that their ability to step up to that level was demonstrated by the way they responded to a massive tactical change as Toulouse were pressurised into the mistakes that contributed to the Warriors' 23-3 half-time lead with tries from Graeme Morrison and Kelly Brown, and then 33-9 late in the game.

With Al Kellock, their captain, setting a remarkable example by putting in well over 20 tackles and Morrison marshalling them impressively, Warriors' defensive style was switched to great effect.

"We changed our defence to a blitz defence and it worked," said Lineen.

As ever, John Barclay, in spite of being sin-binned, put in an exceptional performance, while the coach again praised the Evans brothers, Thom and Max, who scored the vital final try and deserved his man-of-the-match award. He also commended Dan Parks, the Scotland international stand-off who was initially dropped for the match but was recalled when Ruaridh Jackson pulled out through injury and yet again proved his capacity to cope with both adversity and the big occasion to score 18 of their points.

It was, though, a collective effort that, as well as earning the team praise, now means they have placed additional pressure on themselves by showing just what they are capable of against a team that had won their previous 11 games in all competitions.

Ahead of the match, Thom Evans, Warriors' free-scoring winger who started his career with Wasps, said he and his team-mates had to earn the right to believe they were worthy of expecting to beat opponents.

Until then, he said, the secret to any success had to be maintaining a deep fear of letting themselves down in the way they have against both the Dragons and Edinburgh in recent weeks.

With that in mind, his coach reckoned that the fact that the men from Newport would be heading back to Glasgow next week in a match that will decide which of them finishes third in the group, so earning additional European ranking points, is helpful.

"The fact it is the Dragons with their record in Glasgow should mean there is a definitely a fear factor," he said.

The Warriors were also licking some wounds as they return home yesterday since James Eddie suffered knee ligament damage when team-mate Moray Low fell awkwardly on him as a scrum collapsed and Andy Henderson, who was also sin-binned during a cameo appearance, broke a hand.

This article was posted on 19-Jan-2009, 08:39 by Hugh Barrow.