What an achievement by Glasgow Warriors. Winning this championship in Pretoria against the Blue Bulls – in front of 52,000 partisan fans – is nothing short of phenomenal.
In fact, this is the greatest win in Scotland’s rugby history. I don’t write that freely. The Grand Slams of 1925, 1984 and 1990 were huge moments of our past but I do think what the Warriors did on Saturday tops them all.
It definitely tops what they did in 2015 when they won the Pro12 by beating Munster in Belfast. I was there that night in my role as a broadcaster. It was very emotional for me because I knew how far Glasgow had come from the start of professional rugby in 1996. I joined the club from Bath in 1999 when the club and professional rugby in Scotland were in a mess.
The club was called Glasgow Caledonians back then, and we played matches all round the vast region we represented, with games taking place in Glasgow, Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness and Stranraer! We had crowds of less than 1,000 playing in the Welsh-Scottish league. The team travelled by bus every two weeks to South Wales to get beaten before arriving home in the early hours of Sunday morning. It was grim.
That was why the triumph in Belfast almost a decade ago now was so good for the club. It showed how far they had come. Showed that Glasgow Warriors were a proper club who could win major trophies.
Glasgow players celebrate with the URC Championship trophy after their win over Bulls
Centre Huw Jones runs in for a second-half try in Glasgow’s epic victory
Marco van Staden is tackled by Warriors’ Argentinian wing Sebastian Cancelliere
Yes, there’s been a siverware gap since Belfast and Pretoria. The Warriors made it to the final in 2019 when it was played at Parkhead, with a crowd of over 50,000 against Leinster, but sadly, could not quite get the job done. They also made the final of the European Challenge Cup last year but lost to a very good Toulon team.
Since 2015, the Pro12 has morphed into the United Rugby Championship, with the South African sides adding their collective quality to the competition – and making it so much harder to win than it was back then.
So that is the context for Saturday’s victory being the greatest result in Scottish rugby’s history.
It is just so damn hard to win a major competition these days. The quality of the teams is so much better than ever before. Add in the crazy travel involved in getting to and from South Africa and playing at altitude and it looked almost impossible for the Warriors to win.
They not only won, they won it the hard way – playing away from home in both the semi-final and the final.
I’ll be honest, I feared Glasgow had blown their chances when they lost back-to-back games in South Africa near the end of the season.
They had been looking good for a top-two placing, maybe even to finish first which would have given them home advantage all the way to a home final.
Those defeats meant they finished fourth. They negotiated the home match with the Stormers but then had to go to Munster in the semi.
Winning that and then doing the same again in South Africa a week later is just about as tough as it gets on the rugby stage.
Franco Smith deserves so much credit for what he has done since his arrival at Scotstoun two years ago.
I interviewed him at a charity event earlier this year and I was struck by not just his intensity, but also his humanity.
He clearly cares for the players, for the club and for the fans. He fully deserves this victory.
The players were immense. The big guys stepped up when it came to the business end of the season; Matt and Zander Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Kyle Steyn, Richie Gray, Darge, they were all superb.
It shouldn’t be forgotten, however, that it’s been a very long season when lots of fringe players have stepped up and ensured the team won games when the big stars were not playing. Again, this is where Franco Smith excelled.
Warriors captain Kyle Steyn is all smiles at full-time after victory in Pretoria
Glasgow players celebrate at full-time after winning the URC title in Pretoria
He gave young players their opportunity, he backed them and they delivered. He picked the same starting 15 for the three knockout matches which showed his absolute clarity in selection and his superlative game plan. The players executed it perfectly.
Remember, too, that this Bulls team beat a full-strength Leinster side the week before. Further proof, if it were needed, of just what Glasgow Warriors have achieved in Pretoria this weekend and how difficult it must have been.
The only negative has been the fact that a full contingent of travelling fans couldn’t be there to share in their team’s triumph.
The tournament has its flaws, that’s for sure, and how you arrange knockout games and finals within such disparate countries – and at such short notice – is almost an impossible task.
That’s a discussion for another day, however. Let’s savour Glasgow Warriors being crowned champions of the United Rugby Championship.
The greatest result in the history of Scottish rugby? Most definitely.
