THE HERALD REPORTS

KEVIN FERRIE October 21 2005

Glasgow Warriors go into the Heineken European Cup as Scotland's top-seeded side, but the scale of the task facing them as they get their Pool Five campaign underway tonight is best demonstrated by the contrast in Colin Shaw's experiences these past six days.
The 22-year-old full-back visits one of the continent's most intimidating venues at Bourgoin's Stade Pierre Rajon less than a week after playing at rural Hartree Mill, where the vast majority of the 500-strong crowd spent the afternoon with their backs to him.
Not that it was a calculated snub – a player regarded as one of the country's brightest young talents was helping Glasgow Hawks' seconds rout Biggar while the Premier One match took place on an adjacent pitch. It might be a good thing to be ignored by the spectators again tonight at a ground that has achieved a certain notoriety of late. Julien Bonnaire, Bourgoin's club captain, has been suspended for his part in a brawl during a domestic game against Agen on October 8, which could have greater repercussions for the club since the trouble between the players spilled on to the terraces.
Bonnaire has landed a 50-day ban and will miss the match tonight as the inexperienced Warriors bid for the unlikely honour of becoming the first Scottish side to win a Heineken tie in France.
"We've had a look at the tapes and they have a big pack and pacy backs but we can't go over there and sit down to them, we have to get in their faces and try to play our game, getting it wide as much as we can," was Shaw's assessment of the imminent challenge.
On a personal level, he knows it's impossible to over-state the step up in class. "It will be my first proper game for three weeks," he said.
"I'm grateful to John Gillies [Hawks second team manager] who realised the situation I was in and offered me a game. But Hawks' seconds are a decent side and most teams they are up against struggle, so even our team run this week was a big step up from last Saturday."
There remains a major problem in how the relationship between the professional teams and their BT Premiership counterparts functions to ensure players are as well prepared as possible. Graydon Staniforth – more experienced so perhaps slightly better equipped to deal with the situation – was also released to the Hawks last weekend and spent most of the afternoon watching the Premier One leaders struggle to subdue Biggar before getting a second-half run.
It is just another example of how difficult Scottish rugby makes life for itself and Hugh Campbell, the Warriors head coach, has acknowledged how much his injury-ravaged and partly under-prepared side is up against it in France.
In the Celtic League, they are desperately trying to shake off the tag of losing bonus-point specialists. They picked up a point while losing at Llanelli Scarlets last Sunday, the fourth such occurrence this season, while they collected seven in 11 defeats last season, a competition "best". Yet Campbell all but admitted he would settle for finishing within seven points of Bourgoin tonight.
"To win the game would be fantastic but you have to be realistic," he said. "They are a top side and particularly strong at home, so taking anything would be a huge boost at this stage of the competition. Our main target is a good performance and anything you get in France is always a positive, but what an opportunity for the young guys to have this challenge on the European stage."
Shaw is by no means the least experienced player in Glasgow's team tonight. A dreadful run of injuries has handed teenager Johnny Barclay, who scored a couple of tries for Stirling County last weekend, a European debut.
In terms of resources, it is unfortunate from a Scottish perspective that Edinburgh Gunners – who are in Pool Six with arguably the two strongest sides in Europe, Wasps and Toulouse – are not in this group. It is a disgrace lost among all the political intrigue of the past year, that after years of justifying Edinburgh's greater funding on the basis that they were the higher ranked side going into Europe, Murrayfield again provided the Gunners with greater resources than Glasgow this season.
Asked about that again this week, Campbell said simply:
"I asked the previous director of rugby [Ian McGeechan] why that was but there was no explanation given."
It was a timely reminder, if one were needed, that before Scottish players can seriously hope to compete on a level playing field with Europe's best, several domestic battles still need to be won if they are to have a fair chance.

This article was posted on 21-Oct-2005, 09:03 by Hugh Barrow.