Pre-season training: Castres Olympique 20: Glasgow 17

Report from Glasgow Warriors.org:

"A number of new signings were to the fore as Glasgow Warrior were narrowly defeated 20-17 by Heineken Cup opponents Castres in their first outing of the 2012/13 campaign, a training match in Lacaune, southern France, on Friday night.

Second half scores from backline additions Taylor Paris and Byron McGuigan saw Gregor Townsend’s men push a side several weeks ahead of them in fitness and match action all the way, before a late pushover try with Ruaridh Jackson in the sin bin sneaked it for the French.

19-year-old Paris, the youngest player ever to be capped by Canada at both 15s and 7s, was the beneficiary of a fine break from Tommy Seymour, while McGuigan, a Scotland 7s cap, finished off a perceptive length of the field move started by Elite Development signing Fraser Thomson’s cute mark.

Jackson converted both touchdowns, as well as a penalty from out wide on the left, whileAll Black back-rower Angus Macdonald and new lock Tim Swinson were mightily impressive in defence.

Townsend told www.glasgowwarriors.org: "It’s good to get a solid 80 minutes under our belts against a side who are only a fortnight away from competitive rugby in the Top 14.

“We didn’t start all that well, which perhaps wasn’t a huge surprise given the heat and the fact this was our first time on the pitch together, but we really picked up in the second half and played some impressive rugby.

“Taylor and Byron took their tries very well, and I was really pleased with the shift that Tommy Seymour, Peter Murchie and Fraser Thomson put in.

“The pack worked very hard for each other as always, and Angus Macdonald showed just why we brought him here in the way he defended and read the game.

“I was impressed with [Elite Development player] Adam Ashe at No.8, and I’d also like to mention [Dundee lock] Andrew Redmayne and [Gala scrum-half] George Graham who have done everything we’ve asked of them all week and didn’t look anything like out of place when they came on.

“Clearly, we’d have liked to win, but the object of the exercise was getting ourselves up to speed and working on our patterns and understanding, and on those fronts we can certainly be satisfied with what we achieved.”

Castres turned round 8-0 ahead thanks to a driven try midway through the half, and a penalty from in front of the posts right on the stroke of the interval.

The Warriors' rust began to come off in the sticky Lacaune sun during the second period, and they will certainly have found plenty to hearten them ahead of further pre-season dates with Sale Sharks (Mark Cueto testimonial, Heywood Road, Saturday 18 August) and Exeter Chiefs (Millbrae, Ayr RFC, Thursday 23 August).

Townsend reported no injury concerns from the training game.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie; 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Byron McGuigan, 12 Troy Nathan, 11 Fraser Thomson; 10 Scott Wight, 9 Murray McConnell; 1 Gordon Reid, 2 Finlay Gillies, 3 Ed Kalman, 4 Nick Campbell, 5 Tim Swinson, 6 Angus Macdonald, 7 Chris Fusaro (CAPTAIN), 8 Adam Ashe

Substitutes: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Moray Low, 18 George Hunter, 19 Andrew Redmayne, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Alex Dunbar, 24 George Graham, 25 Taylor Paris, 26 Mike Cusack"

Sounds like a good hit out - lovely to hear warm words for Swinson and Macdonald too.

No shame conceding a last minute pushover when down to 14 men against a team a month ahead of you in training.

Wish I could make the Sale game.

Good run out by the sounds of things and incurring no injuries obviously crucial.

Good to see Swinson and MacDonald getting game time and impressing, both will be crucial to the Warriors chances of success this season, keeping the pack combative.

Also sounds like Jackson has been working on his kicking. If he gets that sorted he could well get the 10 jersey back of Weir. I can't help but feel that Townsend would always plump for the more mercurial 10 ahead of the more solid kicking option. Weir vs Jackson has a Hodge/Chalmers vs Townsend feel to it.

FES I had to look up the thesaurus for mercurial, exactly what description are you applying as the first two are flighty and temperamental?

I always thought it to mean (in this context) a player equally capable of the miraculous and the brilliant on the one hand, but also the downright awful on the other, so I guess temperamental and flighty both work to a certain degree.

I've often heard and used the term without ever actually looking it up as a word. Having used the Google machine for about 30 seconds it looks like it derives from the Roman God Mercury, perceived to be erratic and unstable (certainly two words that could be attributed to Gregor Townsend's playing abilities).

Always liked Jackson, he has been unlucky with injuries so far in his career.

If he could tighten up his kicking, both from hand and tee, then he'd be my first choice for Glasgow and Scotland. Has a good passing game as well as the ability to make a half-break and create space for support runners.

Any chance of highlights from this game? Surely Glasgow film it for their own analyse.

Good result considering they are a couple of weeks ahead in terms of their preparation; the new guys all contributing also bodes well!

I have never been a huge fan of Jackson, and contrary to opinion I don't think he really offers a huge running threat. Hope he does well this season though, interesting to see how he copes with the pressure of Weir being no.1 and Wight and Finn Russell coming through.

Jackson's 24 now and for me, he is currently wearing a badge that says 'I promised more than I delivered'.

He's solid, has reasonable line speed but his kicking for goal has been shaky and he doesn't get close to Weir for length when kicking out of hand. I just don't see what the point is in developing him for Scotland in comparison to, say, Leonard who appears to be a far more elusive runner. I've tried hard to see Jackson as special but I cannot shake the fact that when the cupboard was bare at 10 in recent years, we just 'wanted' Jackson to be better than he in fact was.

The wrinkle seems to be that Robinson likes him so if Laidlaw gets injured, I can see him taking the 10 shirt from the Meatball which I think would be a step backwards for Scotland.

Maybe if I have another cup of coffee I'll be less miserable.

I think you’re being realistic, rather than miserable, George.

Jackson does have a fair bit of talent, but Weir, in my view, is more likely to produce the goods time after time, both in terms of kicking from hand and tee and running with the ball. Jackson often makes poor decisions, and I’ve never seen him boss a match as all good 10s should. Perhaps he’d be decent with a creative 12 outside him, but Weir looks the better bet at the moment. And there’s Leonard and Hunter to think about too.

I think people are a little quick to draw judgement on Jackson because he looked so promising when he was 21 and his development stalled.

But development has suffered due to injuries, he missed the entire 09/10 season and didn't play much last season after the RWC due to injuries. Plus the emergence of Weir has limited his game-time, but that can't really be used as an excuse.

GC I don't agree about the kicking from hand comment, he can absolutely blast the ball but isn't as consistent as Weir. It's his goal kicking that's his achilles heal and until that's better I'd prefer Weir or Laidlaw for Scotland.

At 24 he's got plenty of time to iron out the weakness in his game, Aaron Cruden is 23 and still seen as a young fly-half, plus Sexton didn't really come through with Leinster until he was 25.

On a side note, really like the look of Leonard and hope he gets game-time next season. He looks to have the whole package and my money would be on him being first choice fly-half by RWC 2015.

Great to have a bit of choice though.

I'm with GC on this one. He has never delivered on the hype, and in fact when he was picked for Scotland initially it was more on hope than merit. I've certainly never seen a "complete" performance from him. What he can be credited for is increasing the line speed and distribution of the ball as compared with Dan Parks - and for that I shall always be grateful!

Big season for him. He'll have a tussle on his hands for the Glasgow jersey, and also for a shot at the Scotland 10 jersey or bench slot. As noted above, I have a hunch that Townsend will instinctively pick him over Weir, as I think he sees a bit of himself in Jackson, but I agree that Weir has thus far shown a more rounded and certainly more consistent level of performance.

Too early to comment on Leonard for me. Inconsistent at the JWC and patchy for Edinburgh last season. He seems to have the raw materials, but only time will tell whether he can convert his potential into something more. Should get more chances this season now that WCP has moved to London Scottish.

Thought Jackson had a good World Cup last year.

reallybored wrote:Thought Jackson had a good World Cup last year.

I agree that he was ok against Argentina, but no more than that. I thought we were pretty flat against Romania. He didn't play against Georgia or England (injured early doors).

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm with GC on this one. He has never delivered on the hype, and in fact when he was picked for Scotland initially it was more on hope than merit. I've certainly never seen a "complete" performance from him. What he can be credited for is increasing the line speed and distribution of the ball as compared with Dan Parks - and for that I shall always be grateful!

Big season for him. He'll have a tussle on his hands for the Glasgow jersey, and also for a shot at the Scotland 10 jersey or bench slot. As noted above, I have a hunch that Townsend will instinctively pick him over Weir, as I think he sees a bit of himself in Jackson, but I agree that Weir has thus far shown a more rounded and certainly more consistent level of performance.

Too early to comment on Leonard for me. Inconsistent at the JWC and patchy for Edinburgh last season. He seems to have the raw materials, but only time will tell whether he can convert his potential into something more. Should get more chances this season now that WCP has moved to London Scottish.

Certainly true of the opening game against Australia, but I thought he improved no end after that

Agreed - which is why I said he was inconsistent. When he was good he was good, but he really was bad against Australia (that said, the entire team had a nightmare, including the Messiah).

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agreed - which is why I said he was inconsistent. When he was good he was good, but he really was bad against Australia (that said, the entire team had a nightmare, including the Messiah).

No, no, his sandcastle was clearly the best - excellent use of shells for exterior decoration

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agreed - which is why I said he was inconsistent. When he was good he was good, but he really was bad against Australia (that said, the entire team had a nightmare, including the Messiah).

No, no, his sandcastle was clearly the best - excellent use of shells for exterior decoration

Speaking of the messiah, the big boys let him play this weekend and the opposition were kind enough to let him score a try! At least that's what I think it says.
http://www.rugbynews.fr/Actualites/Top-14/Amical-Clermont-solide-face-a-Lyon-34569/

Yes, Clermont spanked Lyon 31-19, scoring 5 tries and FES' Favourite Foetus was one of the scorers.

Pat_Mustard wrote:Speaking of the messiah, the big boys let him play this weekend and the opposition were kind enough to let him score a try! At least that's what I think it says.
http://www.rugbynews.fr/Actualites/Top-14/Amical-Clermont-solide-face-a-Lyon-34569/

Well, the report refers to him as Peter Bennett, and also talks of an ‘exit wound’ for Julien Bonnaire. Was the poor man shot?

Captain_Sensible wrote:

Pat_Mustard wrote:Speaking of the messiah, the big boys let him play this weekend and the opposition were kind enough to let him score a try! At least that's what I think it says.
http://www.rugbynews.fr/Actualites/Top-14/Amical-Clermont-solide-face-a-Lyon-34569/

Well, the report refers to him as Peter Bennett, and also talks of an ‘exit wound’ for Julien Bonnaire. Was the poor man shot?

got to love google translate, there's something about scarecrows in there too! Looks like google have decided Julien Pierre and Mark Bennett should be combined into one super player, "Peter Bennett"

There is really only one contender for the 10 shirt for Scotland from the east side of town, however, Weir at the 'A' game proved that he has the game for an open and expansive game and what a try he scored.

There was a different manager involved so hence the different style which I think proves he has the game to be front runner at Glasgow and definite bench for Scotland.

Bennett, Leonard etc all to prove themselves.