With the new URC season about to get underway, Daily Mail Sport spoke to Premier Sports’ Ryan Wilson to get his thoughts on how the Scottish clubs might fare.
The former Scotland and Glasgow Warriors star is also stepping up from pundit to presenter for the coming campaign, a move he is ready to meet with his usual bravado and enthusiasm!
Glasgow get their URC campaign up and running against the Sharks on Friday night. Franco Smith was linked with a number of jobs elsewhere over the summer so how much of a relief is it that he’s decided to stay at Scotstoun for a fourth season?
RW: I think everyone’s really happy that Franco is staying at Glasgow. It dragged on a bit the saga and what was going to happen with him and with Gregor Townsend too. But I think it’s good for Scottish rugby that both deals have been sorted out.
Once it became clear that Toony was staying on with Scotland then it made sense for Franco to extend his deal with Warriors. Last season the team was under a lot more pressure because they were defending champions so they won’t have to deal with that burden this season which makes them more dangerous in my eyes. Franco is definitely the man for the job at Glasgow – we’ve seen that over the last three seasons – so it’s great that he’s hanging around for a while longer.
Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith signing a new contract has boosted the club
Warriors will look to stars like Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu for the coming season
Glasgow have finished fourth in each of the last three seasons. Will top four be the target again this year and do you expect them to achieve that?
RW: I always back the boys no matter what! But top four will be in their sights again, no doubt. It’s about making sure they can keep that consistency throughout the URC season while also looking to go as far as they can in the European Cup as well. But they’ll want to nail down that top four position in the URC to make sure of a home quarter-final and then try to finish even higher if they can.
Warriors have lost quite a few influential players over the summer including Tom Jordan, Henco Venter and Sebastian Cancelliere. Dan Lancaster and Alex Craig are the only (fit) senior new arrivals. Will that mean an increased reliance on youth this season?
RW: A few big names have gone out the door in the summer which is a loss no doubt but you just know they’ll find a way to make it work. All the chat around Scottish rugby at the moment is about trying to make sure we give enough young guys opportunities and bring them through. And there’s nobody better at doing that than Franco. We’ve seen that in the last few seasons when he’s brought the younger ones through and really built the depth of the first-team squad as a result.
The Sharks are coming to Scotland without any of their Springbok internationals and with a number of other key players injured. Is this a good time for Glasgow to play them?
RW: It could be. Sometimes it’s just about the timing of the fixtures and who’s available and who’s not. But the Sharks will still have a strong team coming over and I know that Glasgow won’t underestimate them for a second. Franco’s boy, Jean, is in their travelling party too which adds a bit of intrigue! But Glasgow will be happy they won’t have to face the big-name Springboks who would probably have featured had it been played later in the season.
Edinburgh made the playoffs last season but had to endure a few rough moments along the way. What do you expect from Sean Everitt and his players this year?
RW: They’re still looking to find that consistency, aren’t they? They were up and down again last season but never really putting together a string of good results. But I think they’ll make the top eight and get back into the playoffs. And having Magnus Bradbury as captain again I think is brilliant. He’s a great guy and someone who will lead by example to drive standards. They’ve got a fair bit of stardust within the squad but it’s just whether they can put it all together on a regular basis. They’ve lost a few like Ali Price and Jamie Ritchie but top eight should definitely be in their sights.
Glasgow have lost some big names but Wilson believes they have the quality to cope
John Barclay will join Wilson in presenting ‘Friday Night Lights’ for Premier Sports
They open their URC season away to Zebre on Saturday afternoon. A good start for them or tougher than it might look on paper?
RW: Zebre seem to be their bogey team at the moment having beaten Edinburgh at the Hive earlier this year then drawing in Parma. I’d imagine a few of the boys in that Edinburgh changing room will have spoken about that this week. So, this isn’t an easy start by any means. In the past teams might have looked at Zebre and saw it as guaranteed points but not any more. The Italians are a team on the up so I reckon this is a horrible one to start with for Edinburgh.
Premier Sports are letting you and John Barclay host your own show – Friday Night Lights – this season starting at Scotstoun. How are you feeling about moving from pundit to presenter?
RW: It’s exciting! Over the last few years I’ve not really gone to a match with a plan in my head as I prefer to work mostly off-the-cuff so I suspect this will be more of the same. Premier Sports have always been willing to change things up and try different things. When they contacted us about this idea I thought, ‘that will be complete and utter chaos!’. And they said that’s exactly what they’re looking for.
They don’t want it to be all polished and perfect, they want a bit of carnage which suits me down to a tee. On the other side of the coin, however, you’ve got Barcs who is slightly more worried about how this is all going to work! We want to obviously still make sure we do a good job in getting the rugby across but it’s also about finding fresh ideas to engage with the fans and the viewers at home and have a bit of fun while doing it. We’ll just roll with it and see how it goes.
‘Friday Night Lights’ with Premier Sports’ Ryan Wilson and John Barclay will start this Friday as Glasgow Warriors take on Hollywoodbets Sharks in the opening URC game of the season live from Scotstoun from 7.15pm on Premier Sports 2. Join former Scottish captains and current best friends John Barclay and Ryan Wilson live on Premier Sports for every Friday night home Scottish game.
