Warriors pay tribute to Weir despite overwhelming defeat
It was a sad day for Scottish rugby, not only because the Glasgow Warriors lost to Irish team Leinster 40-5, but also the news that Scottish Rugby legend Doddie Weir had passed away at the age of 52 from Motor Neurone Disease.
Glasgow Warriors’ hooker Frazer Brown paid tribute: “It’s hugely sad news, I played in that game two weeks ago against New Zealand, where Weir delivered the match ball and it was a very emotional day for anyone there. I know it was very emotional for myself on the pitch. I am quite emotional now. Doddie is an amazing man and he was an amazing man. The strength he has shown over the last five years. He’s unbelievable, probably the strongest man I have met in my life. It’s hugely sad news and my thoughts and everyone’s thoughts here are for Doddie’s family, his children and obviously his wife because it will be a very difficult time for them as well as the rest of the country.”
Last year in the Rugby Union Championship Cup, the Warriors were defeated by Leinster 76-14, this year they aimed to change that, however, they suffered another massive defeat in Dublin.
The Glasgow side were devastated by a Dave Kierney try and a Rob Russel hat-trick. However, Sebastian Cancelliere did get a try for the Warriors, but with most of the first team players being rested from international duty, the Warriors struggled to get out of the starting blocks.
Warriors coach Franco Smith said: “Unfortunately there are some old habits and beliefs that get stuck. But we’ve got a lot of plans that we’re making. It’s going to be one game to turn it round and hopefully we can get it next week. I don’t want to call it a psychological plan, because I think it’s sometimes misinterpreted by the public. We want to get out there and develop mental skill sets to handle the pressure and to help us play better away from home. The pressure is massive, we wanted to win out there.
“I was sincerely convinced that this week we were going to get it right. They were just inaccurate, we lost lineouts that we would usually win. So, there were just errors, which is understandable as we hadn’t played for the last three weeks. But we will gel, and for me the most important thing is we’ve broadened our depth again. Hopefully in a couple of months we’re going to see a group with much more depth.”
With the four last away games ending in defeat, the fans are wondering when this run of losses will end, but hopefully it will be this weekend when the Glasgow Warriors go up against Zebre Parma in Italy.