Glasgow season is exciting but nervy end is in store - The Pen

It’s amazing what 8-year-olds pick up from football crowds (thankfully he cleaned it up a bit!). Yes, Joshua was in fine voice on Saturday afternoon as Glasgow hammered Zebre to claim five points and a place a top the summit of the URC.

Franco’s men took a little bit of time to get going but once they got over that whitewash for the first time, they were unstoppable. With Steyno hitting try scoring form just at the right time, Glasgow have put themselves in a excellent position with just three games to go of the regular season.

Two Hiddleston meat pies followed by a Steyn double then scrum half scores for Dobie and Horne ensured that this was in the end, a comfortable victory. Professional is the best way to describe it. It’s all about getting victories and where possible, ensuring maximum points when you reach the business end and that is what Glasgow did.

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So when you get to this stage, what you need is two weeks in South Africa against the Bulls and Lions to ensure you’re tenderised just enough for heading to the playoffs!

This next couple of weeks are going to be brutal. The Bulls gave Ospreys an absolute pumping on Saturday and sit just seven points behind us in the league. They will be determined to ensure a home quarter final because home advantage to them is massive.

Getting teams over to Pretoria, after travelling and then making them play on the Highveld in the altitude is as good as an extra couple of men and Glasgow will have to be at their very best to get anything from this one. Any points will be very welcome and even if the game ends in defeat, the potential of a try bonus point or being within seven points could make a huge difference in the URC race.

Then they will move on the Johannesburg and take on the Lions, a side still with play-off hopes, albeit slightly slimmer than the Bulls. They may not have the stars of the Sharks, Bulls or Stormers but they are no less dangerous, especially on home soil. If there was a game to target victory on this South African tour, this is the one.

Lets face it though, this is what we want. We want to have a lot to play for at this stage of the season. If we didn’t, we’d be Edinburgh!

That is of course, if we have any players left! With the Warriors A game against Stirling being called off due a lack of front row players, that gives some indication of just how precarious things are where the treatment table is involved. No Kebble, Matthews, Bhatti, Fraser, Brown or Turner puts Franco down to the bare bones and if anyone else goes down while in the Southern Hemisphere, it will mean either emergency signings or scraping by with what’s left. Add to that the loss of Gray, Darge, Jones, Vailanu, Smith and Cordero to name just a few others and it’s understandable that some fans have concerns.

Calling the A fixture off just ensures that what is left can board the plane and give the side the best chance of claiming as many points as possible. It’s disappointing but the club have to look after their main concern and that has to be URC.

And if we can secure that top spot, or top four at worst, then we get knock out rugby right on our doorstep. With the quarters almost certain to take place at Scotstoun and some lassie called Taylor Swift taking up Murrayfield (no, I’ve never heard of her either… but she sounds like a decent fullback) then we either need to raise the capacity of Scotstoun or start looking elsewhere for somewhere to play!

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Hampden plays host to the Foo Fighters on 17th June so that might rule out the national stadium and whether there, Ibrox or Celtic Park would be viable option is doubtful anyway as the extra costs would mean a record crowd would have to be in place to pay for the rent!

That’s getting ahead of myself though. What we need to do first is get back from the Rainbow Nation with enough players to play Zebre and hope that we’re still in those top four places. Otherwise we might have to auction off places in the team or a bring your boots night! I’m happy to come on in the last 10 seconds and kick the ball out of play to seal the win…