‘Don’t think they respect us at all’ – Glasgow Warriors hero says title win cuts no ice

Zander Fagerson lifts the URC trophy as Sione Tuipulotu is soaked with champagne after Glasgow Warriors' victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. (Photo by Anton Geyser/SNS Group)Zander Fagerson lifts the URC trophy as Sione Tuipulotu is soaked with champagne after Glasgow Warriors' victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. (Photo by Anton Geyser/SNS Group)
Zander Fagerson lifts the URC trophy as Sione Tuipulotu is soaked with champagne after Glasgow Warriors' victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. (Photo by Anton Geyser/SNS Group)
Fagerson warns of target on backs

You’d think winning the United Rugby Championship in the way that they did would earn Glasgow Warriors big kudos from their adversaries but Zander Fagerson is not expecting any compliments when the new season begins.

Franco Smith’s side face a tricky away day in Belfast on Saturday and Ulster will be the first of many looking to bring Glasgow down a peg or two. Fagerson knows it, with the prop dismissing the notion that their triumph means they will be held in greater esteem by their URC rivals.

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“No, I don’t think they respect us at all,” said the tighthead. “We've done it. We've won the league. We played really well last year. That's that. But everyone wants to beat the reigning champs. It doesn't matter where you come from, you want to try to beat them. I wouldn't say we’ve got any more respect or anything.”

Zander Fagerson during a Glasgow Warriors training session at Scotstoun. The new season kicks off with an away game at Ulster. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)Zander Fagerson during a Glasgow Warriors training session at Scotstoun. The new season kicks off with an away game at Ulster. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)
Zander Fagerson during a Glasgow Warriors training session at Scotstoun. The new season kicks off with an away game at Ulster. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Asked if he’d received any messages of congratulations from players from other teams, Fagerson looked slightly askance: “It doesn’t really happen, no.”

“Last season's done,” added Fagerson. “What an awesome end to the year it was: really special to get the job done and win the trophy. But as people have touched on, there’s a target on our backs, and everyone's going to be trying to beat last year's champions.”

If Glasgow needed brought back to earth after their stunning win over the Bulls in the final at Loftus Versfeld then their pre-season form would have served as a useful reminder that reputations count for little. Losses to Zebre and Connacht were hardly ideal preparations for the new campaign, albeit the Warriors were missing some of their more experienced performers.

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Given the late finish to last season - the URC final was on June 22 - and the participation of many from Glasgow on Scotland’s summer tour, Smith has not rushed his senior players back, reckoning they will reap the benefits in the latter part of the season. Fagerson, after a lung-busting end to the campaign which saw him play the full 80 minutes in all three of Glasgow’s play-off matches, was excused summer tour duties and is feeling refreshed after a summer spent with the family and attending his younger brother and team-mate Matt’s wedding.

“I was maybe a bit larger, a bit fluffier than I would have liked to have been when I came back,” he laughs. “But it definitely helped, mentally as well. It's such a long, intense season. Think about when we started pre-season for the World Cup the year before, at the end of May, and we didn't finish the season until the end of June.

“It was a long, old year. So to have that time with the kids and time alone has been really nice. My wife definitely made sure I was busy, doing bits and bobs around the house, getting ready for the new arrivals. We've got twins coming at the end of the year, which we’re looking forward to. So it was nice to have that time with the kids just before the double trouble came along.”

Fagerson has shaken off a calf niggle and says he is “chomping at the bit” to play again. Glasgow have recruited more back-up at tighthead for the next campaign and Patrick Schickerling, Sam Talakai and Fin Richardson will all be pushing the Warriors’ scrum king.

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“More players means more competition, so it’s exciting and these are really good guys coming into the squad,” said Fagerson. “I think we'll push each other.”

He plays down his ability to go the full 80 minutes in the big games, even if it is highly unusual in modern rugby.

“I love rugby, so I just keep going,” he said. “I’m not really a fast-twitch guy, if you haven't watched me play recently. I'm more ‘just plod along’. So I don't burn out. If I get told to keep plodding over 80, I'll plod over 80. I'm not looking at the time clock. I'm just keeping going. And when I get given the shepherd's hook and taken off, that's what happens.”

Next summer’s British and Irish Lions tour looms over the new season and Fagerson unsurprisingly would love to be on the plane to Australia.

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“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go on it,” said the prop, who toured with the Lions in South Africa in 2021. “So I’m doing all I can to put myself in the best position for that and improve every week so I can go. It's such a long season that you can't think about it. You’ve just got to keep trying to improve and do all you can for Glasgow and hopefully get selected for Scotland and do all I can for them. And if I'm good enough and I get picked for the Lions, I get picked. But I can control what I can control. That's the mindset.”

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