Warriors look forward to South Africa tour despite setback
Despite their 32- 17 loss to the Ospreys, the Glasgow Warriors are hyped up for their tour to South Africa. During this tour they hope to gain victories over the CellC Sharks and Emirates Lions across the two weekends.
A 36-man playing squad will board the plane to Durban. One member of the group will be captain, Kyle Stern who has returned from injury.
Ross Thompson and Ollie Smith are also back from the side lines for South Africa. Both players had preseason injuries, which were exacerbated during the Ayrshire Sevens Cup competition.
If selected to play, three players will mark their debut in Glasgow colours; Alex Samuel and Angus Fraser will play their first professional match for the Warriors. Tongan international Sione Vailanu could also be in line for his first outing.
Oli Kebble will miss the tour due to a sustained knee injury that saw him withdraw late in the match against the Bulls. Max Williamson gained a head injury while playing his last game for Stirling Wolves, which also rules him out.
However, the Sharks do not intend to make it easy for the Warriors as Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth is set to make his debut.
Bok scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse quoted: "We'd like to have a big influence, but within the Sharks' DNA and fit in as smoothly as possible. A guy like Eben is super-excited to be playing. What we saw last weekend was Glasgow matching the Bulls physically, they disrupted the Bulls' lineouts and attacked their breakdown. But the focus of this game is more on us, pitching up on Saturday and playing the Sharks way.”
With three out of four victories for the Warriors, they are raring to go. But with a strong team like the Sharks, the question is how will they fare, and how will this affect the international players going into the Autumn Nations in two weeks?