Glasgow Warriors keen on versatile Australian back
Western Force player on Franco Smith’s radar
Glasgow Warriors are keen on signing the versatile Australian back Bayley Kuenzle as they look to strengthen for next season.
Franco Smith, the Warriors head coach, has confirmed his interest in the 27-year-old who plays Super Rugby for Western Force.
Kuenzle is usually deployed on the wing and at centre but played a lot of his rugby at stand-off earlier in his career. He was called into the Wallabies squad in 2024 but then suffered a season-ending injury.
Glasgow are resigned to losing several senior players at the end of this season and Smith wants to bring in some experience to work alongside the club’s promising youngsters.
Asked about Kuenzle, the coach said: “I think he's got some good potential. He's one of the candidates that we are looking to bring over.”
Versatility will appeal to Smith
Kuenzle has spent the last five years with Force. Prior to that, he was with the Brumbies where he tended to be used at 10. He can also fill in at full-back and such versatility will appeal to Smith who likes his players to be adaptable.
Born in Sydney, Kuenzle played junior rugby for Burraneer Rugby Club before joining Southern Districts. He was part of the Canberra Vikings side in the National Provincial Championship and made his Super Rugby breakthrough with the Brumbies in 2019.
With Jack Dempsey, Huw Jones, Adam Hastings, Jamie Bhatti and Johnny Matthews all due to leave at the end of the season, Glasgow will be losing a lot of experience. Smith expressed concern about playing numbers and acknowledged that the club’s recent success has made it harder to hang onto their top talents as their value has soared.
“We're coming into a fifth season with me [as head coach],” Smith said. “We want to keep on progressing. I love the boys here, but we also realise that their value goes up and their opportunities grow. And, you know, to compete with a global market and keeping everybody in our environment will cut our throat.
‘It can’t stagnate’
“We're 38 players only [in the Warriors squad]. Hopefully by the end of this season, we'll see a growth in performance and a downward measure of our average age in the group.”
Smith cited young players who have come through this season like Johnny Ventisei, Fergus Watson and Ryan Burke, the latter of whom will make his first start on Saturday against the Stormers in South Africa. But he also underlined the importance of having senior players alongside them.
“We have to look at taking the product forward,” said Smith. “And we need more players. Team selection is hard with injuries, the Six Nations, and the fact that we've competed in both competitions.
“We need to make some executive decisions. We have been building every year here. But we want to continue the growth and we want to continue making more players eligible for Scotland going into the 2031 and 2035 World Cups.
“But it can't stagnate, especially in the two franchise rugby system.”
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