These are the dicey times for the Warriors. Of their glorious side that won the title last season, upwards of eight won’t be playing in this game, for various reasons, mostly injury.
So having Friday starter Williamson back on the pitch this past few weeks, albeit from the bench, is exactly what Smith needed. It’s precisely what Williamson wanted, too. He was in serious form in the autumn and played thunderously for Scotland against South Africa at Murrayfield, only to succumb to injury. The Six Nations came and went without him.
“I injured myself in November, and then re-injured myself in January, which was obviously tough, but it was also a good opportunity,” he says.
“I played a lot of rugby in the last 12 months, so it was a good opportunity to get a bit of physical development. That’s kind of the way I tried to spin it. The one advantage of being injured is that I feel really fresh now.”
What about these angry Bulls, then. “Yeah, huge,” comments Williamson. “You know, looking at the table, it’s massive. With what happened last year, we know they’re going to be coming. They’ve said it – this is the game for them. So we’re up for that too.
“We know it’s going to be a battle on Friday night. That’s what it’s going to be. We know they’re coming here for a physical contest. We want to take the rugby to them and match them in that physical battle.
“It will definitely be a feisty game. They always bring their physicality and we’re not going to stand back and let them do it.”
Statistically, Glasgow have more points for and fewer points against, more tries for and fewer tries against, more clean breaks, more turnovers won, more bonus points.
All the metrics tell you they are favourites to win, but you cannot put a number on aggression and rage for victory. There is no data that records the type of raw desire that White has spoken about.
Glasgow will not be lacking in that department either. Andrew Brace is refereeing. Given the fighting talk from both of these heavyweights, he might be as well bring a bell as a whistle to the Scotstoun scrap.
