Ambitious Glasgow Warriors on course to win forgotten and diminished trophy - but there are other benefits
European lustre has gone from Shield but it is still worth having in locker
Glasgow Warriors can secure silverware on Friday night when they take on Zebre Parma in the final round of the United Rugby Championship's regular season.
A point is all that is required to guarantee that Franco Smith's side win the Italian-Scottish Shield for the second year in a row. It's a handsome trophy but has lost some of its lustre this season. Unlike the previous two years, the Shield no longer provides a qualifying route into the Investec Champions Cup. This won’t affect Glasgow who are already guaranteed a spot in next season’s top-tier EPCR competition by virtue of their league position.
Introduced in 2021 at the launch of the URC, the four regional shields are presented to the highest placed sides from Ireland, Wales and South Africa, who each have four teams in the league, and Italy and Scotland combined, who have two teams only. As well as a device to mark the best teams, the shields were used as a mechanism to award four of the league’s places in the Champions Cup, ensuring each territory had a representative in the following season’s premier European tournament. That worked against Glasgow in the inaugural 2021-22 season when they finished in eighth in the URC but missed out on a Champions Cup place. Ospreys, who finished ninth, qualified instead by virtue of winning the Welsh Shield.
As of this season, the shields are no longer linked to Champions Cup qualification and as such only the games against a team’s shield rivals count towards their places in the mini tables. With one round of fixtures remaining, Glasgow lead the way in the Italian-Scottish Shield with 19 points from five games. They are five points clear of Benetton and Edinburgh who both have 14 points and meet each other in Treviso on Saturday. Zebre prop up the mini-table on two points.
The only way Glasgow can’t win the Italian-Scottish Shield is if they lose at home to Zebre on Friday and fail to pick up any bonus points, and then either Edinburgh or Benetton secure a bonus-point win on Saturday by a margin big enough to overhaul the points difference advantage Glasgow currently hold. Going into the final round, Glasgow have a points difference of +62 in the shield while Edinburgh are +24 and Benetton +7.
Edinburgh won the first Italian-Scottish Shield in 2022, Glasgow won it last season and are odds-on to retain it this year. The Warriors’ charity partners are set to benefit from the club’s likely success. They will be invited to become guardians of the shield next season and will take part in a presentation ceremony. They will also have a profile within the stadium for all of the derby games connected to the shield while the URC’s digital platforms will promote their causes.
Martin Anayi, CEO of the United Rugby Championship, said: “Local rivalries have always brought about a fight for bragging rights and it’s very fulfilling for us to attach tangible rewards for organisations and causes that seek to better the communities of our clubs. Everyone across our league uses their responsibilities as role models to make a positive impact – now through ‘Shields for Good’ their actions on the pitch will have even more resonance off it.”
Italian x Scottish Shield standings: Glasgow Warriors P5 Pts19, Edinburgh Rugby P5 Pts14, Benetton P5 Pts14, Zebre Parma P5 Pts2. Fri: Glasgow v Zebre (7.35pm). Sat: Benetton v Edinburgh (1pm).
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