2020–21 Glasgow Warriors season

• Head coach: Danny Wilson
• Assistant coach: Kenny Murray
• Assistant coach: Peter Murchie (from March 2021)
• Assistant coach: Kelly Brown (to February 2021)
• Scrum coach: Petrus du Plessis (to October 2020)
• Attack coach: Jonny Bell
• Head strength and conditioning coach: Brad Mayo (to Jan 2021)
• Head strength and conditioning coach: Cillian Reardon (from Feb 2021)
• Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Liam Walshe
• Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Jonathan Harris-Wright
• Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Tom Savage
• Lead performance analyst: Greg Woolard
• Assistant performance analyst: Graham O'Riordan

These players are given a professional contract by the Scottish Rugby Academy. Although given placements they are not contracted by Glasgow Warriors. Players graduate from the Academy when a professional club contract is offered.[4]

These players are assigned to Glasgow Warriors for the season 2020–21.[5][6]

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

Other players used by Glasgow Warriors over the course of the season.

• Robbie Fergusson (Scotland 7s) – Centre[7]
• Caleb Korteweg (Stirling County) – Scrum-half[8]
• Jordan Lenac (Ayrshire Bulls) – Scrum-half[9]
• Will Hurd – Prop[10]
• Tom Brown (Scotland 7s) – Full back[11]
• Harvey Elms (Scotland 7s) – Full back[12]

Some coaches from the various Scotland set-ups were helping at the club during the covid pandemic:[16]

• Shade Munro – forwards
• Gary Strain – scrum

• Rufus McLean from Scottish Rugby Academy[23]
• Ross Thompson from Scottish Rugby Academy[24]
• Ollie Smith from Scottish Rugby Academy[25]
• Tom Lambert from Scottish Rugby Academy[26]

There was no friendly matches this season; however Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh did play a closed doors 'A' match. Edinburgh released a squad 23, however Glasgow Warriors did not release player information. The Offside Line stated that Glasgow planned to treat the match purely as training match and rotate a large squad throughout the game. There were however limited video highlights which meant that Warriors fans could determine the probable squad used, listed below. Some player numbers were duplicated by the Glasgow side.

4 February 2021

Glasgow Warriors 'A'	19-22	Edinburgh 'A'

Scotstoun Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Hollie Davidson

Glasgow Warriors: 1 Tom Lambert, 2 Mesu Dolokoto, 3 D'Arcy Rae, 4 Hamish Bain, 5 Max Williamson, 6 Fotu Lokotui, 7 Chris Fusaro, 8 Rory Jackson, 9 Jordan Lenac, 10 Tom Jordan, 11 Robbie Nairn, 12 Stafford McDowall, 13 Harvey Elms, 14 Ollie Melville, 15 Tom Brown
Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 George Thornton, 18 Adam Nicol, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Harrison Courtney, 20 Gregor Brown, 20 Connor De Bruyn, 21 Kaleem Barreto, 21 Michael Gray, 22 Brandon Thomson, 22 Lomond MacPherson, 23 Robbie McCallum, 23 Finlay Callaghan, Euan Cunningham
Edinburgh: 15. Damien Hoyland, 14. Nathan Sweeney, 13. Matthew Currie, 12. Matt Gordon, 11. Alec Coombes, 10. Nathan Chamberlain, 9. Roan Frostwick, 1. Sam Grahamslaw, 2. Sam Kitchen, 3. Murray McCallum, 4. Mesulame Kunavula, 5. Marshall Sykes, 6. Ally Miller, 7. Connor Boyle CAPTAIN, 8. Ben Muncaster
Replacements: Patrick Harrison, Shaun Gunn, Cole Lamberton, Angus Williams, Rory Darge, Charlie Shiel, Charlie Savala, Cameron Scott, Scott King, Sam Pecqueur

This season's Pro14 campaign began with a near traditional away trip to Connacht. The Irish side edged the match; and for the Warriors Tommy Seymour became the first player to score tries in 10 consecutive seasons; and his try in Galway was his 5th opening fixture try. The loss left Warriors Assistant Coach Kenny Murray rueing the Warriors discipline.[55] Better was to follow with Glasgow's home opener with the Scarlets; a dominant first hour of the match enough to secure the win. Danny Wilson said: "Our work at the breakdown and collisions was a lot better than theirs I thought, and our discipline was much improved from last week for the first hour or so. We let our foot off the gas a bit and we’ll look at that, but tonight was all about the win."[56] The Warriors again started well against the Ospreys with tries from Huw Jones and George Turner but failed to convert line-breaks by Nick Grigg and Grant Stewart and a poor second half saw the Welsh side capitalise on Glasgow's missed opportunities to run out winners; the Ospreys first home win in the Pro14 since February 2020.[57][58]

A tough match was expected against last season's champions Leinster at Scotstoun Stadium. They gave Glasgow Warriors their last league defeat at Scotstoun back in November 2019 and had a better start this season.[59] A young Glasgow side gave a battling performance but lost out to the Irish province; though D'Arcy Rae scored his first try for the Scotstoun side.[60] Wilson took positives from the match: "There’ll be some lessons to learn along the way, but ultimately the fact that we’ve got these young Scottish-qualified players coming through and developing with us can only be a good thing in the long run."[61] Another Irish province with a good start this season was Ulster and the away match was next up. Glasgow were without 18 players; and in the warm-up scrum-half Jamie Dobie suffered a shoulder injury. The Glasgow side was filled with Super 6, Scotland 7s and other players with limited training time. A clinical Ulster side was praised by Wilson but in Glasgow colours he singled out Sean Kennedy and Caleb Korteweg who both filled in at scrum-half.[62] The match against Munster was the third Irish province fixture in a row in the Pro14. The Warriors had 22 players unavailable; indeed they only had 23 full time players available to them for the match, so positionally they called in loan signings TJ Ioane and Lewis Bean, Scotland 7s international Robbie Fergusson and Super 6 Caleb Korteweg to make up the playing squad. However again it was the lack of discipline that let Glasgow down and Munster secured the full points in the last quarter.[63][64]

Next up was a Welsh double header. The match against Cardiff Blues gave the Warriors their first away win of the season. Peter Horne and Ryan Wilson pulled on the Warriors shirt putting them 3rd equal with Graeme Morrison for the highest Warriors appearances.[65] Danny Wilson said: "We talk a lot about the fight, passion and energy we expect to see when someone pulls on a Warriors jersey and we definitely saw that from the whole team tonight."[66] The match against the Dragons proved more stuffy. The Warriors fielded their oldest starting XV in four years with an average age of 29.0.[67] Brandon Thomson missed the final kick of the match in front of the posts to secure a Warriors victory; Wilson reflected and spread the blame: "We’re not going to put anything on Brandon’s shoulders. We didn’t perform well enough and didn’t put enough points on the board. That’s the story and that’s what we have to focus on."[68]

The Pro14 rescheduled the Round 9 fixtures;[69] as a result the Round 10 match became the first leg of the 1872 Cup. For 8 of the Warriors players, this would be their 1872 Cup debut. This Scottish derby was packed full of Scottish-qualified players; 26 of the 30 players starting were Scottish Qualified; and of the remaining few Edinburgh's Pierre Schoeman would attain his Scottish qualification later that year.[70] Edinburgh won a tight first leg; Wilson stating: "Obviously it’s disappointing to lose, but I thought we looked a bit more like ourselves today. We were adventurous and tried to play some rugby by moving the ball, and we caused Edinburgh problems. It was a game that came down to fine margins and we were on the wrong end of those margins in the end. Our discipline again wasn’t good enough for me, but I’ve got to give credit to our defence tonight. You’ve got to remember that’s a pretty much fully loaded Edinburgh side that went out there today, and they’re a dangerous team. Our defensive effort was excellent today."[71] The Warriors reversed that marginal outcome in the 1872 Cup 2nd leg at home, this time running out victors in another tight match. Wilson noted the performance by young stars Ross Thompson and Rufus McLean; with Thompson in a man of the match performance in his first start for the club. "To come out of the academy and make your first start in a derby is pressure enough as it is, and I thought Ross was outstanding tonight. You need your goal-kicker to step up in tight games like tonight, and he was nearly flawless. The way he played generally was also really pleasing, and he stood up in defence really well – Edinburgh sent big Mata at him a couple of times and he chopped him down. Credit to him, and it’s really pleasing and promising looking long-term. I also thought Rufus stood up really well tonight – he went looking for work and showed up well. It’s a real positive to have these young Scottish talents coming through the system." and summed up: "It was a properly gutsy performance. If I’m honest I feel we deserved to and should have won by more, but that’s nit-picking really. I’m delighted with the effort tonight."[72]

The Warriors match against Benetton was postponed, due to a frozen pitch. Matches against Ulster and Leinster followed. For the Ulster match, veterans Ryan Wilson and Rob Harley had more caps for Glasgow than the combined caps of the rest of the XV.[73] Glasgow got within a score of Ulster and Wilson said: "I thought we played some good rugby and defended well at times. The one thing we need to really improve is control at breakdown which stopped us going through the amount of phases we need to break them down."[74] Ill-discipline proved Warriors undoing against Leinster at the RDS Arena. New signing Cole Forbes was yellow-carded giving away a penalty try in the process; and then Adam Hastings was red-carded; and late in the match TJ Ioane was also yellow-carded.[75] Despite this the Warriors ran in 3 tries and although the understaffed Glasgow side ran out of steam at the end of the match with Leinster securing a 40-21 win, it showed what the Warriors were capable of, if they could get their discipline right.[76]

Coming into Round 14 of the Pro14, the Warriors were sitting 5th in their conference. That was outside the qualification range for next year's European Champions Cup. Dragons were a point below, Zebre a point above, and Ospreys grip on 3rd place was seemingly tight. The Pro14 had confirmed that for this season combined rankings would determine the qualification spots for the Champions Cup. The only thing in Warriors favour was they had to play Zebre, Ospreys and Dragons in their run-in; and still had the postponed Benetton match to play. A good run could see the Warriors clinch the 3rd or 4th spot and eliminate their rivals chances in the process but even that would be ranked alongside the Conference B table. The match against Zebre in Italy saw Glasgow secure a bonus point win, overcoming ill-discipline again which saw the Warriors down to 13 men at one point in the match.[77] Next up was the Ospreys and the Warriors won that with Ross Thompson winning the plaudits in another man of the match performance.[78] After a rainy night in Scotstoun, assistant coach Jonny Bell said: "I thought our set-piece was excellent. It was important that we controlled the game well in conditions like those, and Ross [Thompson] stepped up and ran the show with real maturity. Sean [Kennedy] and Jamie [Dobie] dovetailed well in the second half too, and that gave us the control we needed to be the team on top in that second half. No two ways about it – the next two games are must-wins for us now. We know we’ll need a favour along the way, but all we can control is making sure we get the two wins from those two matches."[79]

Third spot was denied the Warriors when the Ospreys pulled off a miraculous comeback to beat Leinster 24-19, when the Dublin side were winning 19-3 with a little over 20 minutes left to play.[80] Champions Cup hopes were now very slim; and dependent on the Warriors maximising their points from their last 2 matches; together with a run of results going their way in Conference B. A loss away to the Dragons, despite a wonder try by Rufus McLean, meant that 4th spot was now a straight two-way fight between the Dragons and the Warriors in their last matches. The Warriors secured the 5 points in their match against Benetton; leaving Dragons a mountain to climb in their home match against Edinburgh. The Welsh side had to win with a try bonus and with a margin of 45 points; they did win the match, scoring 3 tries in a 24-17 victory. It wasn't nearly enough, and the Warriors took the 4th spot, and it seemed likely that it would secure European Champions Cup qualification for the 15th consecutive season for Glasgow Warriors next season.

Glasgow Warriors began the European campaign in the European Champions Cup for a 13th consecutive season. They were paired with Exeter Chiefs and Lyon in Pool B.[82] The pairing with Exeter meant that Glasgow would line up with against its departed players; the centurions Glasgow Warrior No. 191 Stuart Hogg and Glasgow Warrior No. 216 Jonny Gray; an ex-captain of the club.[83]

The COVID-19-pandemic affected season was to hurt the Warriors. The first tie was with Exeter Chiefs; and was Glasgow Warrior's 130th European Champions Cup match.[84] England was in the grip of the worst COVID-19 deaths in Europe and the Chiefs team unbeknownst to them was affected with the virus. The Exeter side won the match, but 20 out of the 23 matchday Warriors players were forced to isolate after contracting coronavirus from the English players on the pitch.[85] Head coach Danny Wilson was frustrated with the Warriors display: "We talked all week about how important our discipline was going to be against Exeter, and then we give away 10 penalties in the first half-hour. That led to us being 14 points down despite having the wind at our backs, so when they’ve got the wind they’re just going to pin you in your 22. If you give a side like Exeter that many opportunities they’ll punish you, and they hurt us really badly with that today."[86]

Owing to the Warriors players isolating with COVID-19, the club could not then field a side to play against Lyon and were handed a 28–0 loss by the EPCR, giving Lyon the five points for a bonus-point victory.[85]

Shortly after this the French Government cancelled all matches by the French teams; and the competition was suspended.[87]

It is set to continue but with two losses Glasgow Warriors will instead resume their European campaign in the Challenge Cup.[88]

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Lyon	2	2	0	0	83	10	+73	12	1	1	0	10
Racing 92	2	2	0	0	75	29	+46	11	4	2	0	10
Toulouse	2	2	0	0	57	22	+35	8	3	2	0	10
Munster	2	2	0	0	60	38	+22	5	5	0	0	8
Clermont	2	1	0	1	82	77	+5	11	8	2	0	6
Bristol Bears	2	1	0	1	65	69	-4	9	9	2	0	6
Exeter Chiefs	2	1	0	1	42	28	+14	6	4	1	0	5
Gloucester	2	1	0	1	48	89	-41	6	12	1	0	5
Ulster	2	0	0	2	56	67	-11	7	9	1	2	3
Connacht	2	0	0	2	40	53	-13	5	8	0	1	1
Harlequins	2	0	0	2	14	70	-56	2	9	0	0	0
Glasgow Warriors	2	0	0	2	0	70	-70	0	10	0	0	0

[89]

Glasgow Warriors were drawn against Montpeillier in the Challenge Cup. As a Champions Cup side they joined the Challenge Cup in the last 16 stage. If they won that tie they would progress to a home quarter-final tie against the winners of the Benetton vs Agen match.[90]

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the French side won out in a tight match, ending the Glasgow side's involvement in the tournament. For much of second half, Glasgow played with 14 men, after TJ Ioane was red-carded for a dangerous tackle on Montpelier's Yvan Reilhac. Ioane was to receive a 5 match ban.[91]

The Rainbow Cup was introduced this season as a precursor to inviting 4 South African Super Rugby Unlocked franchises to the Pro14 set-up. The South African sides Vodacom Bulls, Emirates Lions, Cell C Sharks and DHL Stormers were invited to a tournament with the remaining 12 northern hemisphere Pro14 sides. Former Pro14 sides Cheetahs and the Kings were noticeably absent: the Cheetahs were one of 3 remaining Super Rugby Unlocked franchises not invited, the others being the Griquas and the Pumas. The Kings had gone into voluntary liquidation in September 2020.[92]

The original plan was for the European sides to play three matches against each other, the South African sides to play three matches against one another, and then the following three rounds would be European sides playing South African sides. This format was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic which still affected travel. A re-jigged format was then implemented. The European sides would play five matches against one another; the South African sides would play against one another; and the European group winners would play off against the South African group winners in a final. The Pro14 announced that the Rainbow Cup final would take place in Treviso, Italy.

With now only five matches instead of six, each of the European sides were given a bye in one of the rounds. Glasgow Warriors bye was in Round 6.