Glasgow Warriors respond to Donncha O'Callaghan comments and address hair-ruffling incident

The 94-times capped ex-Munster forward unleashed the potty-mouthed tirade after taking exception to Glasgow’s celebrations as they scored a late try in the 38-17 win over Leinster in the United Rugby Championship nine days ago.

Speaking on The Offload podcast, O'Callaghan vented his anger about the behaviour of some of the Warriors players and coach Duncan Weir. The two-time Lion took particular exception to Glasgow stand-off Adam Hastings ruffling the hair of his opposite number Sam Prendergast following the late score from George Horne which sparked a melee. He warned that it could come back to bite them if the sides meet again later in the season.

“There’s something I’m starting to like about Scotland but that’s definitely not the case for Glasgow, I couldn’t believe the way they conducted themselves,” O'Callaghan said during the broadcast.

“It just got me thinking, they’re going to come up against Leinster in the business end and I would have every one of those clips, I would have every word stored and ready to go.

“Honestly, I just think they’re an awful shower of pricks.”

Franco Smith has addressed it

Scott Forrest, the Warriors assistant coach, said there was a fine line to tread between being confrontational and treating opposing teams with respect and said that head coach Franco Smith had spoken to the squad but Forrest stressed that O'Callaghan's remarks were not causing the Warriors undue concern.

“We don't pay too much attention to it, if we're being honest,” said Forrest. “We've not really spoken about it in the building. I think in terms of pundits and media, that's fine. They need to talk about something. But I think for us internally, we don't want to see those things [unsporting behaviour] happen. We want to be competitive.

“We want to be regarded as a team that is competitive at the top level of competitions. We don't necessarily want it to boil over. Franco has addressed that within the group, that we don't really want to be seen like that.

“We want to be confrontational. We want the team to respect when they play us, to fear when they play us. But no, no one really wants to see things like that in the game.”

Hair ruffling is definitely out

Hastings was sent to the sin-bin following the incident, as was Leinster’s Rabah Slimani, in what was a lively conclusion to a fixture that is always keenly contested. The sides could meet again in the URC play-offs and/or the semi-finals of the Investec Champions Cup should they both progress. The incident and the remarks by O’Callaghan would certainly add spice to a potential rematch and Forrest indicated that the Glasgow players had been reminded about how they conduct themselves.

“Hair ruffling is definitely out,” he said. “Listen, the confrontational bit we've spoken about. We want to be confrontational. You have to be if you want to win trophies, which is ultimately our aim.

“But we don't want to step across the line. One thing for us is, especially when you're scoring tries, that's probably not the time where you want to rub it in anyone's faces. So, yes, we want to be respectful while at the same time showing everyone how tough it is to come to Scotstoun and play rugby.”

The Bulls visit Scotstoun this Saturday in the round of 16 in the Champions Cup and Glasgow captain Kyle Steyn has an outside chance of playing. The winger has recovered from a stress fracture and is due to return to training. Forrest said he should be available to play either this week or next.