Glasgow Warriors plan no more signings amid concerns over squad depth

Glasgow Warriors defence coach Scott Forrest has revealed the club don’t plan on making any more signings this summer but is adamant a smaller squad can still put up a strong showing in the season ahead.

A number of experienced international figures have headed out the door at Scotstoun among them Huw Jones, Adam Hastings, Jack Dempsey, Johnny Matthews, Jamie Bhatti and Sione Vailanu.

Just three new players have been recruited; the former Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie, versatile Australian back Bayley Kuenzle and South African back-rower Ruwald van der Merwe, who is yet to arrive in Glasgow.

Scott Forrest says that Glasgow Warriors are comfortable with their squad. | SNS Group

That net squad turnover has been a cause for concern among some Warriors supporters but Forrest pointed to a similar situation last year when Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter and Tom Jordan moved on and Glasgow still managed to top the United Rugby Championship table and reach the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

He said: “In terms of bringing players in, the way the squad is just now is probably how it’s going to look. Obviously that might change if we pick up long-term injuries in certain positions that put us under stress.

“I would say there were probably similar conversations happening last year [around recruitment] when the likes of Seba Cancelliere left, Henco left, and TJ left.

“There were probably similar things said about these guys leaving and not being replaced by a similar quality. And, while we’ve not won a trophy, statistically we won more matches last season than we’ve ever done in the past and finished top of the URC regular season.

“So, we're looking at the positives. Yes, we've lost some quality internationals but we’re very confident in terms of the younger players that we've got in our group. We feel we've got a lot of them here that are ready to step up now, while we've still got the core group of senior internationals that I think everyone knows what they can do.

“We’re still pretty confident that the blend that we've got in the squad, and the competition we've got for places, will put us in a pretty good position this year.”

Warriors ultimately fell short on both fronts last season, losing at home to Toulon in the last eight of the Champions Cup before being beaten by the Bulls at Murrayfield in the URC semi-finals. The pre-season preparations are still in their infancy but Forrest revealed the key messages from the coaching staff haven't altered.

He added: “The first thing is that there's a bit of reinforcement there for everyone. A lot of our big rocks we talk about — that's the language we use in attack and defence, set-piece — are some of the best in the URC, in Europe and in world rugby.

“So the core of what we do, especially attack and defence, we're not going to change. I feel we've got an identity on both sides of the ball. Ultimately, where we fell down was two knockout games, one against Toulon in Europe and then obviously the Bulls.

“There's probably been some similarities with Scotland over the last 12 months and they've had a really positive summer. So, our big rocks aren't going to change. Ultimately, we just need to look at those little one-percenters about what gets us over the line in those knockout pressure matches.”