Glasgow Warriors

Glasgow Warriors

File:Glasgow warriors badge.png
Full name	Glasgow Warriors
Founded	amateur 1872 (1872) professional 1996 (1996)
Location	Glasgow, Scotland
Ground(s)	Scotstoun Stadium (Capacity: 7,351 using additional temporary seating)
Chairman	Charles Shaw
Coach(es)	Gregor Townsend
Captain(s)	Jonny Gray Henry Pyrgos
Most caps	Graeme Morrison (176)
Top scorer	Tommy Hayes (1131)
Most tries	D.T.H. van der Merwe (31)
League(s)	Guinness Pro12
2015–16	3rd
Team kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.glasgowwarriors.org
Current season

Glasgow Warriors are one of the two professional rugby teams from Scotland. The team plays in the Pro12 and the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments along with its oldest rivals, Edinburgh Rugby. The Glasgow Warriors team plays its home games at Scotstoun Stadium. In May 2015 they won the Pro12 title and became the first Scottish team to win a major trophy in rugby union's professional era.

History

Glasgow Warriors are a continuation of the amateur Glasgow District side founded in 1872.

For the history of Glasgow as an amateur district side see:

Main article: Glasgow District (rugby union)

Reshaped as a professional club in 1996, Glasgow Warriors were originally known as Glasgow Rugby before rebranding as Glasgow Caledonians in 1998 by a merger with the Caledonian Reds. They dropped the Caledonians to become Glasgow Rugby in 2001 again and finally rebranded as the Glasgow Warriors in 2005.

Originally based at Hughenden till 2007, the Warriors moved to Firhill in 2007–08 season (with a brief sojourn there also in 2005–06.) In the summer of 2012 Glasgow Warriors moved from Firhill to Scotstoun, which had previously been the club's training base.

District Sides

Scotland had four District Sides:- North and Midlands; South; Glasgow District and Edinburgh District. Glasgow and Edinburgh were formed in 1872 and played the world's first ever inter-district match in that year. The professional sides Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby are a continuation of these district sides and to mark the world's oldest derby they play for the 1872 Cup every year (since season 2007–08; when the collapse of the Border Reivers left Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby as Scotland's only two professional teams).

The district sides capped the best amateur players from their area's club sides to play inter-district matches and matches against touring sides. Unlike the Scottish clubs (and Ireland's provincial sides), the Scottish district sides had no settled home and were not members of their Rugby Union. This meant when Scottish rugby embraced professionalism it was not clear if a model based on districts or clubs would be used.

Professional model: Club or District

It was not clear which route professionalism would go in Scotland. This created a turbulent start for professionalism in Scotland and left Scotland far behind fast-embracing Ireland in the set up of its professional structure. The first season of the Heineken Cup in 1995–96 was run without any Scottish teams in European competition.

An EGM was held by the SRU for its member clubs to debate the matter and try and settle the issue on the 8 February 1996. The SRU management was in favour of districts and its Vice-President Fred McLeod and Jim Telfer argued for the proposal. In favour of the clubs to be represented in Europe were former Scotland internationalists Gavin Hastings and Keith Robertson. Critically a speech from the floor from Brian Simmers of Glasgow Academicals – arguing that Hastings and Robertson didn't have the best interests of Scottish rugby at heart and they were arguing only for their own clubs – swung the debate and the District model won by 178 to 24.

The four amateur district teams Glasgow, Edinburgh, South of Scotland and North and Midlands were to become the professional sides Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh Rugby, Border Reivers and the Caledonia Reds.

Formation of Glasgow Warriors

Glasgow Rugby was created in 1996 to compete in the Heineken Cup, because the Scottish Rugby Union did not think that Scottish club sides would be able to compete against the best teams from France and England. Glasgow, however, did not compete in the Heineken Cup until the 1997–98 season.

Glasgow and the other three Scottish districts competed in the Scottish Inter-District Championship to determine their European Qualifying; the leagues positions determining whether they entered the Heineken Cup or the Challenge Cup.

Main article: Scottish Inter-District Championship

Merger with Caledonia Reds

Because of the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of Murrayfield there was a recognised need for further reorganisation. After two seasons, Glasgow merged with the Caledonia Reds to form a team that would be known as Glasgow Caledonians.

The forced merger came just after Glasgow had shown some signs of progress by qualifying for the Heineken Cup quarter-final play-offs, in which they suffered their heaviest defeat (90–19) to Leicester Tigers. The intention was that the combined strength of the new teams would build on such modest progress and initially some very successful results were achieved, including a 1999 win against Leicester (30–17), but overall the team lacked consistency.

Celtic League formation

Concerns about attendances at games became a concern again at the time of the 1999 World Cup, by which time a Welsh-Scottish League had been announced. In essence, this would be the Welsh Premier Division augmented by the two Scottish sides.

Main article: Welsh-Scottish League

The 'Caledonian' label was dropped at the start of the 2001–02 season, with the team name becoming once again Glasgow Rugby.

The Celtic League began in the autumn of 2001 with the addition of the four Irish provincial teams; Glasgow reached the semi-finals of the inaugural competition, but struggled thereafter.

Main article: Pro12

In 2004–05 Glasgow had been fifth in the Celtic League, the best placing of the three Scottish teams that existed at that time.

Starting with the 2005–06 season, the team was again rebranded, this time as the Glasgow Warriors.

Pro12

The Celtic League was rebranded as the Pro12 league in season 2011–12. This was to better reflect the entry of the Italian sides into the Celtic League.

The Pro12 league format has a top four play-off system to decide the champions.

Since the Pro12 started in season 2011–12, Glasgow Warriors are the only team that have made the play-offs in every year.

Records and Achievements

For Amateur era see:

Main article: Glasgow District (rugby union)

Honours

• Pro12
  • Winners: 1 (2015)
  • Runners-up: 1 (2014)
• 1872 Cup (founded 2007–08)
  • Winners: 6 (2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14)
• Melrose 7s
  • Winners: 2 (2014, 2015)

Season standings

Competing as Glasgow Warriors unless stated.
Competing as ᵜ Glasgow Rugby.
Competing as ᵝ Glasgow Caledonian Reds.

League competitions

Scottish Inter-District Championship

Welsh-Scottish League

Celtic League

Pro12

Season	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	BP	Pts	Notes
1996–97 ᵜ	2nd	3	2	0	1	63	51	+12	-	4
1997–98 ᵜ	2nd	3	2	0	1	66	29	+37	-	4	(second on tries scored)
1998–99 ᵝ	2nd	3	1	0	2	32	97	-65	-	2	(Edinburgh won Tri-series 2-1)
1999–00 ᵝ	10th	22	8	1	13	488	621	-133	-	25
2000–01 ᵝ	7th	22	12	0	10	645	608	+37	-	36
2001–02 ᵜ	8th	20	8	1	11	475	527	-52	-	25
2001–02 ᵜ	3rd in Pool A	7	4	1	2	204	172	+32	-	13	(lost semi-final to Leinster)
2002–03 ᵜ	3rd	8	2	1	5	144	210	-66	1	11
2002–03 ᵜ	2nd in Pool B	7	5	0	2	216	166	+50	3	23	(lost quarter-final to Ulster)
2003–04 ᵜ	11th	22	6	1	15	442	614	-172	6	32
2004–05 ᵜ	6th	20	8	1	11	465	466	-1	11	45
2005–06	11th	22	5	0	15	371	439	-68	9	37	(All deemed + 2 games: 8 pts)
2006–07	7th	20	11	0	9	434	419	+15	5	49
2007–08	5th	18	10	1	7	340	349	-9	4	46
2008–09	7th	18	7	0	11	349	375	-26	9	37
2009–10	3rd	18	11	2	5	390	321	+69	3	51	(lost semi-final to Ospreys)
2010–11	11th	22	6	1	15	401	543	-142	7	33
2011–12	4th	22	13	4	5	445	321	+124	5	65	(lost semi-final to Leinster)
2012–13	3rd	22	16	0	6	541	324	+217	12	76	(lost semi-final to Leinster)
2013–14	2nd & RU	22	18	0	4	484	309	+175	7	79	(lost final to Leinster)
2014–15	1st & CH	22	16	1	5	540	360	+180	9	75	(defeated Munster in final)
2015–16	3rd	22	13	1	7	557	380	+177	14	72	(lost semi-final to Connacht)

European competitions

European Challenge Cup

Heineken Cup / European Champions Cup

Season	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	BP	Pts	Notes
1996–97 ᵜ	5th in Pool A	5	1	0	4	113	202	-89	-	2
1997–98 ᵜ	2nd in Pool 2	6	3	0	3	132	167	-35	-	6	(lost Qtr-Final play-off to Leicester Tigers)
1998–99 ᵝ	4th in Pool 4	6	2	0	4	121	187	-66	-	4
1999–00 ᵝ	3rd in Pool 1	6	2	0	4	130	179	-49	-	4
2000–01 ᵝ	4th in Pool 6	6	1	0	5	137	227	-90	-	2
2001–02 ᵜ	3rd in Pool 5	6	2	1	3	126	198	-72	-	5
2002–03 ᵜ	3rd in Pool 3	6	2	0	4	86	185	-99	-	4
2003–04 ᵜ	2nd round	4	3	0	1	107	66	+41	-	-	(lost to Saracens on aggregate)
2004–05 ᵜ	4th in Pool 3	6	0	0	6	107	186	-79	2	2
2005–06	4th in Pool 5	6	1	0	5	131	190	-59	2	6
2006–07	2nd in Pool 2	6	4	1	1	204	72	+132	4	22	(lost to Saracens in Qtr-Final)
2007–08	3rd in Pool 4	6	3	0	3	130	127	+3	4	16
2008–09	3rd in Pool 5	6	2	0	4	134	150	-16	4	12
2009–10	3rd in Pool 2	6	2	0	4	120	140	-20	1	9
2010–11	3rd In Pool 6	6	3	0	3	116	141	-25	0	12
2011–12	2nd in Pool 3	6	2	1	3	131	190	-59	2	12
2012–13	4th in Pool 4	6	1	0	5	70	105	-35	2	6
2013–14	4th in Pool 2	6	2	0	4	98	130	-32	3	11
2014–15	3rd in Pool 4	6	3	0	3	108	84	+24	3	15
2015–16	3rd in Pool 3	6	3	0	3	114	96	+18	2	14

Finals Results

Pro12

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
31 May 2014	Leinster Rugby	34–12	Glasgow Warriors	RDS Arena, Dublin	19,200
30 May 2015	Glasgow Warriors	31–13	Munster Rugby	Kingspan Stadium, Belfast	17,057

Partial list of games played against international opposition

For international games in amateur era see: Glasgow District
Competing as Glasgow Warriors unless stated. Scores and results list Glasgow Warrior's points tally first.
Competing as ᵜ Glasgow Rugby. Competing as ᵝ Glasgow Caledonian Reds.

Year	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tour
1998	10 November	South Africa	Firhill Stadium, Glasgow	Loss ᵝ	9–62	1998 South Africa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
1998	18 November	Māori All Blacks	McDiarmid Park, Perth	Loss ᵝ	15–53	Preview Report
1998	24 November	Fiji	Firhill Stadium, Glasgow	Win ᵝ	41–22	Preview Report
1999	12 August	Uruguay A	Fletcher's Fields, Markham, Ontario	Win ᵝ	68–8	Report
2006	13 November	Scotland U20	Meggetland Sports Complex, Edinburgh	Win	33-19	Report
2015	29 August	Canada	Graves-Oakley Memorial Park, Halifax	Loss	12–19	2015 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches
2016	30 August	Canada A	Bridgehaugh Park, Stirling	Win	63–0	Preview Report

Current standings

Pro12

2016–17 Pro12
	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Pts
1	Munster (RU)	22	19	0	3	602	316	+286	77	34	9	1	86
2	Leinster (SF)	22	18	0	4	674	390	+284	91	47	12	1	85
3	Scarlets (CH)	22	17	0	5	537	359	+178	66	40	9	0	77
4	Ospreys (SF)	22	14	0	8	556	360	+196	74	42	10	3	69
5	Ulster	22	14	1	7	521	371	+150	68	47	6	4	68
6	Glasgow Warriors	22	11	0	11	540	464	+76	72	53	9	5	58
7	Cardiff Blues	22	11	1	10	508	498	+10	59	60	3	4	53
8	Connacht	22	9	0	13	413	498	−85	47	61	5	3	44
9	Edinburgh	22	6	0	16	400	491	−91	46	59	1	6	31
10	Benetton Treviso	22	5	0	17	316	664	−348	35	92	1	2	23
11	Newport Gwent Dragons	22	4	0	18	368	569	−201	38	71	1	6	23
12	Zebre	22	3	0	19	318	773	−455	38	105	1	6	19
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest red cards received; the fewest yellow cards received.
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places and earn a place in the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places that earn a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup. Yellow background advances to a play-off for a chance to compete in the Champions Cup. (Q) indicates team has qualified for the play-offs and has qualified for the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup.

European Champions Cup

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Munster (2)	6	5	0	1	160	64	+96	18	4	3	1	24
Glasgow Warriors (6)	6	4	0	2	160	86	+74	18	10	2	1	19
Leicester Tigers	6	2	0	4	61	190	–129	3	23	0	0	8
Racing 92	6	1	0	5	89	130	–41	12	14	1	0	5

Coaches & Management

Coaches

Position	Name	Nationality
Head Coach	Gregor Townsend	Scotland
Assistant Coach	Matt Taylor	Scotland
Assistant Coach	Kenny Murray	Scotland
Assistant Coach	Dan McFarland	England
Assistant Coach	Mike Blair	Scotland
Elite Development Coach	Iain Monaghan	Scotland
Head Strength and Conditioning Coach	Stuart Yule	Scotland
Strength and Conditioning Coach	Thibault Giroud	France

Management

Position	Name	Nationality
Chairman	Charles Shaw	Scotland
Managing Director	Nathan Bombrys	USA
Advisory Board Member	Walter Malcolm	Scotland
Advisory Board Member	Paul Taylor	Scotland
Advisory Board Member	Jim Preston	Scotland
Advisory Board Member	Douglas McCrea	Scotland
Advisory Board Member	Alan Lees	Scotland
Scottish Rugby: Director of Commercial Operations, Communications and Public Affairs	Dominic McKay	Scotland

Current squad

For player movements leading up to the 2016–17 season, see List of 2016–17 Pro12 transfers § Glasgow Warriors.

• Internationally capped players in bold. Their nationality is fixed to international team (World Rugby regulations).
• Players qualified to play for Scotland on residency or dual nationality. *
• Nationality now fixed under World Rugby regulations by virtue of an 'A' cap or Sevens cap ⚓
• In all cases nationality shown is the country that the player represents in international rugby union.

Senior squad

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Fraser Brown Hooker Scotland Corey Flynn Hooker New Zealand Pat MacArthur Hooker Scotland James Malcolm Hooker Scotland Alex Allan Prop Scotland Zander Fagerson Prop Scotland Jarrod Firth Prop New Zealand Ryan Grant Prop Scotland Sila Puafisi Prop Tonga D'Arcy Rae Prop Scotland Gordon Reid Prop Scotland Djustice Sears-Duru Prop Canada Brian Alainu'uese Lock Samoa Scott Cummings Lock Scotland Jonny Gray Lock Scotland Greg Peterson Lock United States Tim Swinson Lock Scotland Tjiuee Uanivi Lock Namibia Hugh Blake (loan out) Flanker Scotland Simone Favaro Flanker Italy Chris Fusaro Flanker Scotland Rob Harley Flanker Scotland Adam Ashe Number 8 Scotland Langilangi Haupeakui Number 8 United States Ruaridh MacKenzie Number 8 Scotland Josh Strauss Number 8 Scotland Ryan Wilson Number 8 Scotland

Player Position Union Grayson Hart Scrum-half Scotland Nemia Kenatale Scrum-half Fiji Ali Price Scrum-half Scotland Henry Pyrgos Scrum-half Scotland Rory Clegg ⚓ Fly-half England Finn Russell Fly-half Scotland Hagen Schulte* Fly-half New Zealand Mark Bennett Centre Scotland Alex Dunbar Centre Scotland Nick Grigg ⚓ Centre Scotland Peter Horne Centre Scotland Sam Johnson Centre Australia Fraser Lyle ⚓ Centre Scotland Richie Vernon Centre Scotland Junior Bulumakau ⚓ Wing Scotland Rory Hughes Wing Scotland Lee Jones Wing Scotland Sean Lamont Wing Scotland Leonardo Sarto Wing Italy Tommy Seymour Wing Scotland Ratu Tagive Wing Australia Stuart Hogg Fullback Scotland Peter Murchie Fullback Scotland

Academy players

Scottish Rugby Academy players who have been assigned to a professional club are Stage 3 players. The Stage 3 players assigned to Glasgow Warriors for the season 2016-17 are below.

Academy players promoted in the course of the season are listed with the main squad.

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Cameron Fenton (loan out) Hooker Scotland Jamie Bhatti Prop Scotland Callum Hunter-Hill (loan out) Lock Scotland Sam Thomson Lock Scotland Bruce Flockhart Flanker Scotland Matt Smith Flanker Scotland Lewis Wynne Flanker Scotland Matt Fagerson Number 8 Scotland

Player Position Union George Horne ⚓ Scrum-half Scotland Patrick Kelly (loan out) Centre Scotland Robert Beattie Wing Scotland

Notable former coaches & management

Former Head coaches

Coach	Period(s)
Sean Lineen	03/2006 – 06/2012
Hugh Campbell	04/2003 – 03/2006
Kiwi Searancke	06/2002 – 04/2003
Richie Dixon	01/1999 – 06/2002
Keith Robertson	11/1997 – 01/1999
Kevin Greene	1996 – 11/1997

Former Assistant Coaches

Assistant Coach	Period(s)
Shade Munro	04/2003 – 06/2015
Gary Mercer	06/2005 – 06/2012
Sean Lineen	04/2003 – 03/2006
Steve Anderson	06/2002 – 04/2003
Rob Moffat	01/1999 – 06/2002
Gordon Macpherson	1996 – 04/2003

Former Managing Director / Chief Executive Officers

Managing Director / CEO	Period(s)
Kenny Baillie	10/2009 – 09/2011
Ian Riddoch	07/2007 – 07/2009
David Jordan	07/1997 – 01/2005

Notable former players

Former Club Captains

Club Captain	Period(s)
Al Kellock	2006 – 2015
Jon Petrie	2004 – 2006
Cameron Mather	2003 – 2004
Andy Nicol	1999 – 2003
Gordon Bulloch	1996 – 1999

The Centurions

Former players who have reached the 100 caps mark for Glasgow Warriors

• Players not given a full senior international rugby union cap by their country under World Rugby rules. *

Graeme Morrison: (2003–13) 176 caps Alastair Kellock: (2006–15) 156 caps Jon Petrie: (1998–2007) 155 caps Gordon Bulloch: (1996-2005) 150 caps Dougie Hall: (1999-2002 & 2007–14) 150 caps Moray Low: (2006–14) 150 caps John Barclay: (2005–13) 148 caps Graeme Beveridge: (1998–2007) 146 caps Kevin Tkachuk (2004-2011) 146 caps Dan Parks: (2003-2010) 143 caps Andrew Henderson: (2000-2009) 140 caps Johnnie Beattie: (2004–12) 137 caps Dan Turner*: (2004–2010) 135 caps

Donnie Macfadyen: (1999–2008) 131 caps Colin Gregor*: (2003–2011) 130 caps James Eddie*: (2004–2016) 126 caps Fergus Thomson: (2002-2013) 124 caps Hefin O'Hare*: (2005-2011) 121 caps Tommy Hayes (1997-2003) 113 caps Ruaridh Jackson: (2008–2014) 113 caps Alan Bulloch: (1996–2004) 111 caps Jon Welsh: (2008–2015) 110 caps Duncan Weir: (2010–2016) 108 caps Sam Pinder: (2003–2009) 106 caps Glenn Metcalfe: (1996–2004) 101 caps Ed Kalman: (2007–2014) 101 caps Lee Harrison* (2000-2006) 100 caps

British and Irish Lions from Glasgow Warriors

The following former Glasgow players, in addition to representing Scotland, have also represented the British and Irish Lions.

Gordon Bulloch Craig Chalmers Chris Cusiter Sean Maitland

Richie Gray Euan Murray Andy Nicol

Tom Smith Rob Wainwright Mike Blair

Scotland

The following (not previously listed above) former Glasgow players have represented Scotland at full international level.

Kelly Brown Kevin Bryce Stewart Campbell Andy Craig James Craig Michael Cusack Rob Dewey Max Evans Thom Evans Stuart Grimes

Andrew Hall Craig Hamilton Dave Hilton Tyrone Holmes Ian Jardine Rory Kerr Rory Lamont Scott Lawson John Leslie Shaun Longstaff Kenny Logan Kieran Low

John Manson Cameron Mather Gordon McIlwham Kevin McKenzie James McLaren Stuart Moffat Shade Munro Chris Paterson Derrick Patterson Matt Proudfoot

Roland Reid Rowen Shepherd Gordon Simpson Derek Stark Jon Steel Murray Wallace Alan Watt Jason White Andrew Wilson

Notable non-Scottish players

The following is a list of notable non-Scottish (not previously listed above) international representative former Glasgow players:

Argentina Federico Aramburú Gabriel Ascárate German Araoz Francisco Leonelli José María Núñez Piossek Bernardo Stortoni Australia Cameron Blades Taqele Naiyaravoro Bahamas George Hunter Canada Connor Braid Chauncey O'Toole Taylor Paris DTH van der Merwe

Cook Islands Mike Beckham Fiji Nikola Matawalu Leone Nakarawa Jerry Yanuyanutawa Georgia Shalva Mamukashvili Ireland James Downey New Zealand Daryl Gibson Angus Macdonald

Samoa Lome Fa'atau David Lemi Opeta Palepoi Justin Va'a Tonga Ofa Faingaʻanuku Viliami Ma'afu USA Folau Niua Zimbabwe Denford Mutamangira

Notable also outside of rugby

The following is a list of notable (not previously listed above) former Glasgow players who have achieved notability in fields outwith rugby:

• Danny Ablett - Royal Navy Surgeon, Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
• Joe Naufahu - Actor, Game of Thrones Season 6
• Gerwyn Price - Professional Darts Player, Professional Darts Corporation

Personnel honours and records

Celtic League Team of the Year

• 2006–07: Euan Murray (1)
• 2007–08: no Glasgow Warriors represented (0)
• 2008–09: no Glasgow Warriors represented (0)
• 2009–10: Al Kellock, John Barclay, Dan Parks (3)
• 2010–11: Richie Gray (1)

Pro12 Team of the Year

• 2011–12: Jon Welsh, Tom Ryder, Duncan Weir (3)
• 2012–13: Ryan Grant, Al Kellock, Nikola Matawalu, Stuart Hogg Glasgow Warriors players top representations (4)
• 2013–14: Alex Dunbar (1)
• 2014–15: Josh Strauss, Peter Horne, Tommy Seymour (3)
• 2015–16: Leone Nakarawa (1)

External links

• Official site
• Official Supporters club site – Blog site of The XVIth Warrior: Official Supporters club
• glasgowwarriors.com – an unofficial fan website
• Heineken Cup page