Glasgow Warriors take on ex-Edinburgh man as injured duo are scanned ahead of hazardous trip

Glasgow suffered their heaviest league defeat of the campaign in Treviso last May, going down 33-7 as they ended the regular season with three successive losses.

Forrest, Glasgow’s new assistant coach, used to play alongside Benetton boss Calum MacRae for the Border Reivers and rates him highly.

MacRae took charge in the summer, stepping up from his role as defence coach at the Treviso club to succeed Marco Bortolami who joined Sale Sharks.

Did a very good job at Edinburgh

MacRae - known as Kitty - has been with the Italian side since leaving his role as Edinburgh’s defence coach in 2022. Prior to that he was in charge of the Scotland Sevens squad for three years, guiding them to back-to-back London Sevens titles.

“We were at the Reivers together,” said Forrest. “We played a bit of sevens together, so that'll be quite nice to go and see him.

“Kitty's a very experienced coach. Obviously, he did a very good job when he was at Edinburgh and then going to Benetton and leading their defence. I think it was a natural progression for him to step up there. He's been there for a long time.

“So I'm sure he's the same as a coach as he was a player. He was a very detailed player in terms of knowing his role. I know that's how he'll be as a head coach as well. He'll have really good attention to detail. You see that in the way that Benetton play, especially when they play at home. They are a very good team.

Dempsey and Darge undergo scans

“We found that out last year, probably the hard way, but they're a very good team when they play at home.”

Benetton outscored Glasgow by five tries to one at Stadio Monigo on the penultimate weekend of last season and it was a sore one to take particularly for head coach Franco Smith who played for and coached the Treviso side.

The Warriors, who opened the new URC season with a home win over the Sharks, won’t lack motivation when they return to the Veneto region this weekend but it remains to be seen if they will have Jack Dempsey and Rory Darge available.

Dempsey pulled out of the Sharks game after feeling some discomfort in his groin during the warm-up. No risks were taken given his long lay-off with a hamstring injury, although the latest issue was unrelated.

“He's been for a scan so, we’re just waiting on results,” said Forrest. “He seems okay just now. He's back in the building.

“We had to make a decision in quite a tight turnaround, when he goes down [ahead of Sharks game]. It was near the end of the warm-up and it's hard to know if it was just a bit of a scare he got. It's not related to his previous injuries. It's something completely different.”

Darge came off near the end with a knee injury.

“Again, it's probably more precautionary,” said Forrest. “I think he's going for a scan just to see what's going on there. He's obviously, he's got a history there.

“He felt something. He played on for a while, where the game was at that point we still had subs to make. It was [a case of] let's just do the right thing here and just bring them off. But again, it's, let's see what the scan results come back with.”