Scottish Rugby

Grant Young
Fan writer

Glasgow Warriors bounce back at home with an expected win over Welsh side Dragons. But a 49-0 score line is probably a kind reflection of the game.

A slender two-try lead was all the Warriors took into the sheds at half-time and after last week's second-half collapse to Benetton, there was nobody in Scotstoun taking it for granted.

But a clinical second half performance put them well ahead.

Dragons had good territory but the Glasgow line held them out.

Glasgow in attack definitely looked like what the Warrior fans expect with timely offloads, big line breaks and some high-quality chase downs.

A player of the game performance from Gregor Brown really cements him as a new favourite. He gets about the ground well, scored a nice try and seems to be a player with real potential. He's a player, like Euan Ferrie, who is benefiting from getting a lot more game time.

Glasgow now hit the road to face Ospreys.

Away victories across the URC so far have been difficult to come by.

The last meeting of the two had Ospreys score in the last moments of the game to win 32-31 at Scotstoun.

Glasgow need to send a message to the rest of the league. Everyone knows they can win at Scotstoun, it's now about what they can do to teams on the road.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

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Brown shines

On a comfortable evening for Glasgow in front of their own fans, Gregor Brown was the standout performer.

The versatile forward powered over at the start of the second half for his first Warriors try, but more eye-catching was the subtle offload he provided to set up George Horne's first try of the evening.

The Scotland international has now made 29 successful carries after just three league matches and gets through a power of work defensively.

Horne delivers reminder of clinical edge

Scrum-half Horne has been a central part of Glasgow's success under head coach Franco Smith and his two tries against Dragons helped show why.

He reads the game magnificently and always seems to be on hand to support teammates and finish off moves.

He sets the tempo for Glasgow and took his record try-scoring tally for the club to 61.

Smith sets standards

Despite the impressive margin of victory, South African Smith made it clear that he wasn't impressed with how his side started on Saturday.

He told Premier Sports it "wasn't close" to what he thinks is "necessary to compete in the competition".

A sentiment one can only imagine he relayed to his players at half-time.

They scored 14 points in the first half and 35 in the second, suggesting his team talk did the trick.

Smith knows exactly what it takes to win the United Rugby Championship and he knows his team will have to be better for the sterner tests that await.

We asked for your views on Edinburgh's narrow defeat to Munster and Glasgow Warrior's emphatic victory over Dragons.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Munster 20-19 Edinburgh

Ian: Different Edinburgh this week. The same one we saw at the tail end of last season but was missing in week one. Physical, up for the fight and brilliant to watch at times. Three league points from two away games isn't the worst return in the world, just a little disappointing because they could have been two away wins but for some of our own decisions and some refereeing decisions. Lots to reasons to be hopeful though. First home match next week, let's go!

Andrew: Edinburgh's intensity in attack and defence should have won them the game. Individual discipline and execution leading to four yellow cards gifted the game to a largely overwhelmed Munster. We always seem to find a way to lose. Oh Edinburgh.

Andy: Appalling display by Edinburgh accompanied by an equally appalling display by Ben Whitehouse. Edinburgh lacked discipline and a couple of yellow cards were deserved but having watched game, I can't understand how the referee allowed Munster to either collapse or turn every scrum in the last 20 minutes without penalising them. This negated Edinburgh's dominance in set play. Definitely cost Edinburgh a victory as game was theirs for the taking.

Bryn: Enough is enough Edinburgh! No more players or coaches coming out talking about looking in the mirror or learning from the mistakes or stepping up to the plate or any of the other multitude of weekly cliches we are subjected to. Someone with authority in the SRU needs to step in and publicly put this collective of players and coaches on notice. Just not good enough.

Glasgow Warriors 49-0 Dragons

Kenny: A good night to be at Scotstoun with seven unanswered tries for Warriors. Franco Smith's comments are always spot on. Dragons were plucky in some phases but just outclassed over the 80 minutes.

Robert: Great win for the Warriors, a number of top performers like Gregor Brown and George Horn but Kyle Steyn again proved his worth. What a top class performer and Warriors captain he is.

Stuart: Glasgow still not clicked into gear and with all the injury issues and the reduced squad, they will probably only rarely be able to field their first choice 23 a couple of times this season in the URC. What Smith has done brilliantly over the last few years though is blood his young players and develop the entire squad to the point that everyone knows their role, the system, what their job is and what the expectations are of them even if they are playing out of position to the point that Glasgow almost don't have a first choice 23 and it's almost seamless. Glasgow did enough to blow Dragons away but there is better to come from this group, the intent is there and if it actually falls into place they'll be very difficult for anyone to beat. Delighted they shook off last week's shocking second half and some great individual performances and a much better team one.

Neil: 49-0 is a great result and a great response after the disappointing second half capitulation to Treviso last time out. Franco Smith will be pleased that Warriors put in a better performance and stopped the Dragons from scoring, but I still feel that there is a lot more to come from Glasgow, with a number of big names still out injured and some of the young players still developing.

Glasgow Warriors plundered seven unanswered tries at Scotstoun as they crushed Dragons in the United Rugby Championship.

Read the full match report.

Have your say on the match.

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Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith on Premier Sports: "Slow start. First half wasn't close to what I think is necessary to compete in the competition. Much better second half.

"The game lacked a bit of intensity - we couldn't get into a flow and a rhythm. We don't have to have the ball to have that intent, but we came out of the changing room much better [for the second half].

"We were not gaining as much as I would like in the contact area. We got pinged a couple of times at the breakdown and it felt like we were a little bit reactive.

"Benetton proved tonight [with victory over Lions] they will be tough to beat. We felt we did enough against them to have more points on the board. That put a lot more pressure on what happened next, but we saw a response and there's stuff to take into the next game."

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt told Premier Sports: "We played 80 minutes with 14 men and that's never going to be ideal when you play away to Munster.

"I'm very proud of the way the boys fought. We made a contest out of every set-piece, every breakdown. That's what we asked them to do. We wanted to take Munster out of their rhythm.

"I think some of those yellow cards are justified. I'll have another look at the other ones. I'll look at the penalties as well. It's something we take pride in. We know that if we concede under 10 penalties we'll win, so we'll see where we can improve in that department.

"We need to continue. You can't back off because you've lost a game away to Munster.

"We've got our first home game next week against Benetton and I'd like to see the same fight and energy. We just need to be more more accurate with our discipline."

Four yellow cards in a one-point defeat away to Munster?

The hosts missed all four of their conversion attempts, while Ben Healy hit the post with the one that got away for him.

Read the match report as Edinburgh suffer another narrow defeat.

Let us know your thoughts.

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Alex Craig will make his Glasgow Warriors debut as Dragons visit Scotstoun on United Rugby Championship duty on Saturday.

Summer signing Craig arrived in Glasgow from Scarlets, but the lock has yet to make it on the pitch following a hamstring injury.

The Scotland cap's inclusion is one of six changes to the starting XV that faced Benetton in last weekend's final-minute defeat in Treviso.

Rory Sutherland and Fin Richardson continue as the starting props, with Gregor Hiddleston coming into the starting line-up as a hooker.

Scott Cummings will make his first start of the season after featuring off the bench in the opening two matches as he partners Craig.

Macenzzie Duncan continues at openside after being awarded player of the match in Italy, as the flanker joins Gregor Brown and Euan Ferrie, who moves off the bench to the back-row.

George Horne returns to the starting XV at scrum half, while Ollie Smith comes back into the midfield after starting on the wing against Sharks a fortnight ago.

Jamie Dobie shifts to the wing after starting at scrum-half last weekend, with captain Kyle Steyn and Josh McKay completing the back-three.

Johnny Matthews drops to the bench for what would be the hooker's 100th appearance in a Glasgow jersey should he come on to the field.

Jare Oguntibeju, Matt Fagerson, who is nursing an ankle injury, and Stafford McDowall miss out altogether from the squad last week.

Glasgow Warriors: McKay, Steyn (c), Smith, S Tuipulotu, Dobie; Hastings, Horne; Sutherland, Hiddleston, Richardson, Craig, Cummings, Brown, Duncan, Ferrie.

Replacements: Matthews, Schickerling, Walker, Samuel, Williamson, Fraser, Afshar, Lancaster.

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BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

Andrew asked: After seven years of winning nothing and failing to qualify from a World Cup group, are we all just assuming that Gregor Townsend spending less time [focussing] on the Scotland job isn't going to hurt us?

Tom answered: Well, I don't think he'll be spending less time on the Scotland job. It's a 30-day commitment, but the optics of this Red Bull/Newcastle link are not good at all and he's put more pressure on himself by doing this. If Scotland have a bad autumn, a bad Six Nations and a bad summer then I'm not wholly convinced he makes it to the World Cup.

On your 'winning nothing' point. What do we expect Scotland to win? Ireland and France are better than Scotland. They just are. Expecting some third-place finishes is not unreasonable, I think. It hasn't happened often enough.

Both of his World Cups have been really poor. It's not so much that they got knocked out in the group stage both times, it's that they didn't compete in the biggest games. The heat is on Townsend even more so after that announcement last week. People don't like him having a sideline gig and I can see why.

Doug asked: Franco Smith said we may have to be patient for the next couple of seasons as we build our Scots-qualified depth. Last weekend however seemed a particularly poor episode in game management, like that Ospreys match at Scotstoun last season. We possibly have some unrealistic expectations as Warriors fans but do you think there could be lean seasons ahead or do you think with a little luck with injuries Glasgow can still compete in the URC?

Tom answered: Last weekend was pretty weird. I think all of the Glasgow players were a bit lost for words about how they let that game slip, albeit Benetton are a good side who will take a few scalps at home I suspect.

Patience is advised because they've lost a few important players but my view is that Glasgow will still be very close to the top four if not in the top four. The squad is still strong and there are a lot of young players emerging fast. And Franco Smith is an outstanding coach and mentor.

You're right about injuries. They haven't had much luck on that front - and they'll need a bit more luck this season. It's important they bounce back emphatically against the Dragons and the Ospreys in the next two games.

Harry asked: What would enable Edinburgh to be more competitive while international players are away on Scotland duty? Clubs like Leinster and Bath continue to dominate their games without key players. Is it simply a case of squad depth?

Tom answered: When it comes to Edinburgh, it's a lot of things. It's coaching, its squad depth, it's mental strength, it's leadership, it's basic hunger and desire, it's discipline. Edinburgh can struggle to beat opponents they should be beating even when they have a full squad to pick from. Scotland internationals, Lions, promising young players - and still they lose too many games.

It's the entire culture at Edinburgh that's wrong. It has to be. Their problems have been going on too long under too many different coaches. How do you fix a culture? That's not an easy one to address. There's just something wrong in the bones of Edinburgh Rugby and it's been wrong for a long time. It needs root and branch examination.

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Dylan Richardson will make his Edinburgh debut in Friday's United Rugby Championship meeting with Munster in Limerick.

The Scotland cap's inclusion is one of six changes to the starting XV that faced Zebre in last month's campaign-opening loss in Italy. Edinburgh's match at home to Ulster last week was postponed because of Storm Amy.

Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe start on the wings while Pierre Schoeman, D'arcy Rae and Sam Skinner come into the pack.

Paul Hill and Harry Paterson drops to the bench while Ewan Ashman, Jack Brown, Grant Gilchrist and Luke Crosbie miss out.

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen, Darcy Graham, Piers O'Conor, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Healy, Ben Vellacott; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, D'arcy Rae, Marshall Sykes, Sam Skinner, Liam McConnell, Dylan Richardson, Magnus Bradbury (capt).

Replacements: Paddy Harrison, Boan Venter, Paul Hill, Glen Young, Freddy Douglas, Ben Muncaster, Charlie Shiel, Harry Paterson.

Tom English, Andy Burke and Colin Gregor discuss Gregor Townsend's new consultancy role at Red Bull, what the R360 project says about world rugby as well as the Warriors' defeat to Benetton in the URC.

Listen to the full episode.

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Andy Rhys Jones will become Scottish Rugby's first head of women's performance and pathways in January.

Jones will join from Harlequins, where he is head of women's rugby. He previously worked for Loughborough University and Leicester Tigers.

The announcement of Jones' imminent arrival comes almost two weeks after Scottish Rugby announced 35 women's contracts in place for the 2025-26 season.

"The potential here is vast, and I'm looking forward to working collaboratively with players, coaches, and stakeholders across the pathway to build a system that consistently supports the development of world-class athletes and enables Scotland to thrive on the international stage," Jones told Scottish Rugby.

Performance director David Nucifora added: "We are determined to produce the best young players with a pathway that is sustainable and fit for purpose. This new role is a critical step for Scottish Rugby to be able to do that.

"Andy's expertise in high-performance sport, particularly in the women's game, combined with a proven ability to align operations with player development, makes him exceptionally well-placed to drive forward our ambitions."

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Northampton Saints defence coach Lee Radford has taken up the same job with Scotland, with the former rugby league player saying he "always aspired to coach on the international stage within rugby union".

The 46-year-old will continue in his role with the English Premiership club this season before going full-time with the national team, with whom he is now contracted until the end of the 2027-28 season.

Radford replaces Steve Tandy, who took over as Wales head coach following the summer tour of Fiji and New Zealand.

The Englishman has been with Northampton for two years, helping them win the league title in 2024, having previously been defence coach for Samoa as they reached the final of the Rugby League World Cup, losing out to Australia.

"To get that opportunity with a nation like Scotland is an incredibly proud moment," Radford told Scottish Rugby.

"I've visited the Scotland camp a couple of times in the last few years and have come away with a great feeling about the place.

"The management are well connected and it's a tight playing group. There's a brilliant chemistry and that's so important.

"Scotland have been very sound defensively over the last few years and there are similarities to how they defend compared to Northampton. My job will be to continue that cohesion as well as adding some of my own touches."

Head coach Gregor Townsend said he "placed huge importance" on finding "a high-quality replacement" for Tandy.

"Lee fits the bill perfectly," he added. "Lee brings a wealth of experience from rugby league and union on the defensive area of the game and will be able to build on the good work that has been done in that area over the last few years."

Grant Young
Fan writer

Glasgow's defeat in Italy was a proper tale of two halves - is this the new norm?

A strong opening 30 minutes wasn't enough as we succumbed to a last-minute drop goal in Treviso. That is now back-to-back defeats on the road to Benetton after being humbled in May.

A strong opening from Glasgow provided positivity but, just like last week, errors in attack cost dearly.

Despite being majorly on the back foot in the second half the Warriors still generated chances from their strong defence, but failed to score a single point.

The game was decided near the end after two pivotal moments. George Horne kicked straight out from halfway, gifting territory, and then Stafford McDowall fired a pass with minutes on the clock that went forward and resulted in Benetton snatching victory.

The defeat leaves a lot to ponder for the coaching staff and it is perhaps time for some big conversations. That was a good strong team fielded in Italy, so why are Glasgow struggling to win?

Away victories are difficult in the URC but teams looking to contend come the play-offs need to be winning on their travels.

Attention now turns back to Scotstoun, with Dragons in town on Saturday seeking their first win.

Glasgow, though, have blown the Dragons away across the past five meetings, so it's definitely a good game to bounce back in.

Got any burning questions on Scottish rugby? Our chief sportswriter Tom English is ready to answer them.

Send them in via this link and a selection of answers will be published on this page later in the week.

We asked for your views on Glasgow Warriors' shock defeat to Benetton in the URC.

Here's what some of you said:

Robert: It is a game of 80 minutes and you have to keep going and continually apply pressure. This was an unnecessary loss.

Paul: Disappointing result after getting into a winning position. Defence was pretty good throughout. Attack not in top gear yet and couldn't really capitalise on first half dominance. Credit to Treviso for hanging in there and kicking on, but Glasgow didn't help themselves in failing to keep possession in that second half.

Glasgow put out a strong side. Let's hope it's just early season rust or the Italian curse rather than a sign of things to come.

Wee Whitey: Despite a dreadful second half, this game should have been Glasgow's. Pragmatism is a stranger at Scotstoun. Ignoring kickable penalties, trying to run out of the 22 with the slimmest of leads was madness.

Pump the ball up the pitch and put your best chase on it. Only have themselves to blame. Not sure what the coach will make of it, but it seems like his mindset.

Gus: Very poor show, in control of most of the game.Have too learn to be streetwise.

James: Championship-winning teams don't lose that game. There's a lack of leadership in that squad, especially in the forwards. The poor game management and failure to adapt to Treviso's change in tactics was embarrassing.

Doug: First half was encouraging and we should've been out of sight but second half we were ragged and undisciplined. Credit to Benetton who took their chances and upped their game.

This sort of defeat where we switch off is the sort that is costly when it comes to securing a home semi. This is the maddening inconsistency of being a Scottish rugby fan.

Robert: Should have been out of sight before half-time. Small errors in second half proved costly but playing for territory in the last quarter is surely what's required when it's a one point game? Gutted to have lost that.