The 2020–21 season will see Glasgow Warriors compete in the competitions: the Guinness Pro14 and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The Pro14 had been reduced to 12 sides this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the South African sides could not take part.
After being unable to fulfil their fixture against Lyon in the Champions Cup, after a number of their players contracted COVID-19 and others had to isolate after playing against a covid-hosted Exeter Chiefs side (also in the European Rugby Champions Cup), the Glasgow side were then placed in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
A further tournament was later announced. The Rainbow Cup was an end of season tournament intended as a precursor to 4 South African Super Rugby Unlocked franchises joining the Pro14 in the following season.
Season overview
The season was dominated by COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Due to the pandemic matches were played without fans; and there were strict penalties should a club have to miss a match. For rugby union in Scotland, only the international sides and the two Pro14 sides remained operational. For this to work, the squads had to remain in their own 'bubble' to limit interaction with others and so curtail the spread of COVID-19.
The 'bubble' approach largely worked. Glasgow Warriors had one serious outbreak of coronavirus; and that was purely through contact with an English side on the pitch, Exeter Chiefs as they played them in the Champions Cup. However the consequence of the 'bubble' approach was felt more keenly by the Glasgow Warriors when their international players left to play in the international windows of the Autumn Internationals and the Six Nations. The Scotland international squad had its own 'bubble'. That meant the Glasgow Warriors played called up for Scotland could not easily return to the Warriors, if for example, they were not selected for an international match in that window; as was the case in previous seasons.
The pandemic had hindered recruitment for the new head coach Danny Wilson; and the impact of the coronavirus mitigation in place of no fans and the 'bubble' approach with the secondment of players, lowered expectations of what the Warriors could achieve this season, especially as most expected this to be a rebuilding season without the pandemic in the background. However this was still Glasgow Warriors, and even on lower seasonal expectations there was still a demand that the club be competitive and provide a challenge to other top sides.
Player discipline during matches turned out to be a key factor in the Glasgow Warriors season. This meant that the Warriors did not challenge for the top honours in the Pro14 but had to be content in securing Champions Cup qualification for the following season. After the Warriors were dumped out of this season's coronavirus hit Champions Cup and instead placed in the Challenge Cup's last 16, discipline remained a problem; a red card to TJ Ioane, who was subsequent given a five-match ban, saw the 14-man Warriors edged out by Montpellier.
By the end of the season; and with 18 players leaving the side, including club legends Chris Fusaro (183 caps), Tommy Seymour (150 caps), Leone Nakarawa (80 caps) and Niko Matuwalu (138 caps) among stalwarts like Alex Allan (109 caps), Lee Jones (92 caps) and D'Arcy Rae (86 caps) and stars like Huw Jones (49 caps) and Adam Hastings (52 caps), the rebuilding that many predicted proved accurate.
Some new signings to replace the departures have been announced but in the promotion of academy prospects like Ross Thompson, Rufus McLean, Ollie Smith and Tom Lambert, the appearance of Gregor Brown, and the arrival and impact of other new boys Cole Forbes and Rory Darge have gave the season end a much better report than would otherwise been the case. In the end of season tournament, the Rainbow Cup, although initially stung by the Northern Hemisphere's eventual finalist Benetton Treviso in a surprise upsurge in their form, the Warriors won the next four matches in a row, securing the 1872 Cup in the process and beating this season's Pro14 winners Leinster in their last match of the tournament.
Forbes, Darge, McLean and Thompson were subsequently called up by Scotland for their summer international matches, alongside other Warriors like Kiran Macdonald, Jamie Dobie, George Horne and Kyle Steyn. Incoming signings for next season like Jamie Bhatti and Sione Tuipoluto were also selected. Ross Thompson secured the Warriors Young Player of the Season award; in a season where he made his competitive debut in January 2021 he broke the 100 points milestone the same season. He became only the fourth Glasgow Warrior in history to do so in his debut season; and the third fastest, behind only Tommy Hayes and Dan Parks and ahead of Calvin Howarth.
A season which started poorly ended with good progress in the end; and optimism for the coming season is apparent.
Team
Coaches
Head coach: Danny Wilson Assistant coach: Kenny Murray Assistant coach: Peter Murchie (from March 2021) Assistant coach: Kelly Brown (to February 2021) Scrum coach: Petrus du Plessis (to October 2020) Attack coach: Jonny Bell Head strength and conditioning coach: Brad Mayo (to Jan 2021) Head strength and conditioning coach: Cillian Reardon (from Feb 2021) Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Liam Walshe Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Jonathan Harris-Wright Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Tom Savage Lead performance analyst: Greg Woolard Assistant performance analyst: Graham O'Riordan
Squad Hookers
Fraser Brown Mesu Dolokoto Johnny Matthews Grant Stewart George Turner
Props
Alex Allan Dylan Evans Zander Fagerson Oli Kebble Tom Lambert Adam Nicol Enrique Pieretto D'Arcy Rae Aki Seiuli George Thornton
Locks
Hamish Bain Lewis Bean Scott Cummings Richie Gray Kiran McDonald Leone Nakarawa James Scott Loose forwards
Rory Darge Matt Fagerson Bruce Flockhart Chris Fusaro Thomas Gordon Rob Harley TJ Ioane Fotu Lokotui Ryan Wilson
Scrum halves
Jamie Dobie George Horne Sean Kennedy Ali Price
Fly halves
Adam Hastings Ian Keatley Ross Thompson Brandon Thomson Centres
Nick Grigg Peter Horne Sam Johnson Huw Jones Patrick Kelly Stafford McDowall Ollie Smith Kyle Steyn
Back Three
Glenn Bryce Lee Jones Nikola Matawalu Robbie Nairn Rufus McLean Tommy Seymour Ratu Tagive Cole Forbes
Scottish Rugby Academy Stage 3 players
These players are given a professional contract by the Scottish Rugby Academy. Although given placements they are not contracted by Glasgow Warriors. Players graduate from the academy when a professional club contract is offered.
These players are assigned to Glasgow Warriors for the season 2020–21.
Academy players promoted in the course of the season are listed with the main squad.
Murphy Walker – Prop Angus Fraser – Hooker Alex Samuel – Lock Max Williamson – Lock Gregor Brown – Flanker Rory Jackson – Flanker Euan Cunningham – Fly-half Michael Gray – Centre Robbie McCallum – Centre Connor de Bruyn – Centre Finlay Callaghan – Wing Ollie Melville – Full-back
Back up players
Other players used by Glasgow Warriors over the course of the season.
Robbie Fergusson (Scotland 7s) – Centre Caleb Korteweg (Stirling County) – Scrum-half Jordan Lenac (Ayrshire Bulls) – Scrum-half Will Hurd – Prop Tom Brown (Scotland 7s) – Full backArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Harvey Elms (Scotland 7s) – Full backArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Player statistics
During the 2020–21 season, Glasgow have used 55 different players in competitive games. The table below shows the number of appearances and points scored by each player.
Pos. Nation Name Pro14 Champions Cup Challenge Cup Rainbow Cup Total Apps(sub) Tries Pointskicked Apps(sub) Tries Pointskicked Apps(sub) Tries Pointskicked Apps(sub) Tries Pointskicked Apps(sub) Total ptsHKFraser Brown4100001003(1)108(1)10HKJohnny Matthews1(8)200000000001(8)10HKGrant Stewart8(3)20(1)00000(2)008(6)10HKGeorge Turner3(3)20100(1)003(2)207(6)20PRAlex Allan(6)00000000000(6)0PRDylan Evans(4)00000(1)00(1)00(6)0PRZander Fagerson30010010030080PROli Kebble51010010020095PRTom Lambert0000000001(4)001(4)0PREnrique Pieretto10(3)00(1)00(1)002(2)0012(7)0PRD'Arcy Rae3(9)10000000(3)003(12)5PRAki Seiuli11(4)20(1)0000020013(5)10PRGeorge Thornton(1)00000000000(1)0LKHamish Bain3(3)00(1)000000003(4)0LKLewis Bean3(2)100000000003(2)5LKScott Cummings40010000030080LKRichie Gray7(2)000001002(1)0010(3)0LKKiran McDonald5(1)00100000(4)106(5)5LKLeone Nakarawa3(3)00000(1)00(1)003(5)0LKJames Scott2(2)000000000002(2)0BRGregor Brown1(1)000000000001(1)0BRRory Darge0000000003(1)003(1)0BRMatt Fagerson410100000320815BRChris Fusaro1(3)000000000001(3)0BRThomas Gordon13(1)300001001(2)0015(3)15BRRob Harley12(1)0010010050019(1)0BRTJ Ioane5(6)20(1)00(1)000005(8)10BRFotu Lokotui2(7)200001002105(7)15BRRyan Wilson1510100100500225SHJamie Dobie4(6)10(1)00000(1)004(8)5SHSean Kennedy6(4)100000001(4)006(4)5SHCaleb Korteweg(1)00000000000(1)0SHJordan Lenac(1)00000000000(1)0SHGeorge Horne2(2)20000(1)003(1)105(4)15SHAli Price4001001002(1)008(1)0FHAdam Hastings50340001015310954FHIan Keatley(3)08000000(1)14(4)17FHRoss Thompson5(3)155000(1)06513210(4)103FHBrandon Thomson1(5)08(1)000000001(6)8CERobbie Fergusson9(1)000000000009(1)0CENick Grigg12(1)3010010051019(1)20CEPeter Horne6(2)030100000(1)007(3)30CESam Johnson600100100300110CEHuw Jones9(1)40(1)0010000010(2)20CEStafford McDowall3000000002(3)005(3)0CEOllie Smith4(2)00000000(1)004(3)0CEKyle Steyn000000000530515WGLee Jones710100100(1)009(1)5WGNikola Matawalu3(4)10000(1)00(2)003(7)5WGRufus McLean6300001001(1)008(1)15WGRobbie Nairn20000000000020WGTommy Seymour51010000000065WGRatu Tagive7(3)000000002009(3)0FBGlenn Bryce4(1)101000000005(1)5FBCole Forbes200000000420610
Staff movements
Coaches
Personnel in Danny Wilson from Scotland Jonny Bell from Gloucester Kelly Brown from Saracens Cillian Reardon from Leinster Peter Murchie from Ayrshire Bulls
Personnel out Dave Rennie to Australia
John Dalziel to Scotland (forwards coach) Petrus du Plessis to Australia (scrum coach) Brad Mayo to ACT Brumbies (performance manager) Kelly Brown released
Some coaches from the various Scotland set-ups were helping at the club during the covid pandemic:
Shade Munro – forwards Gary Strain – scrum
Medical
Personnel in
Personnel out
Staff
Personnel in
Personnel out
Player movements Academy promotions
Rufus McLean from Scottish Rugby Academy Ross Thompson from Scottish Rugby Academy Ollie Smith from Scottish Rugby Academy Tom Lambert from Scottish Rugby Academy
Player transfers
In
Hamish Bain from Stade Niçois
(loan)
Out
Jonny Gray to Exeter Chiefs Cameron Henderson to Leicester Tigers Nick Frisby released Siua Halanukonuka to Perpignan D. T. H. van der Merwe released Rory Hughes released Matt Smith retired Ruaridh Jackson retired''' Callum Gibbins released Tim Swinson to Saracens Andrew Davidson to Edinburgh Rugby Marshall Sykes to Edinburgh Rugby Adam Ashe released Charlie Capps released Bruce Flockhart sabbatical Jale Vakaloloma released Brandon Thomson to Cheetahs (loan ends) Will Hurd to Leicester Tigers
Adam Nicol to Jersey Reds Tommy Seymour retired
Competitions Pre-season and friendlies
There was no friendly matches this season; however Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh did play a closed doors 'A' match. Edinburgh released a squad 23, however Glasgow Warriors did not release player information. The Offside Line stated that Glasgow planned to treat the match purely as training match and rotate a large squad throughout the game. There were however limited video highlights which meant that Warriors fans could determine the probable squad used, listed below. Some player numbers were duplicated by the Glasgow side.
Match 1