Senior Sports Writer

NEW Glasgow coach Franco Smith is confident that the Warriors can quickly get over the disappointments of last season and start to be serious contenders in the United Rugby Championship again. Speaking at Scotstoun yesterday at his first press conference since his appointment was announced earlier this week, Smith said the team not only wanted to return swiftly to winning ways, but also to become “the heroes that Glasgow needs”.

IT IS nearly 10 months since Ayrshire Bulls became the inaugural Super6 champions, but, as they prepare to begin the defence of their title, they are still very much the team to be shot at, according to Bobby Beattie.

SCOTTISH Rugby published its annual report for 2021-22, but has opted not to include finalised accounts in the document, citing the complexities of some of its financial arrangements.

WES Goosen believes that the “winning, competitive culture” he was part of with the Hurricanes in New Zealand can help Edinburgh keep up the progress they showed last season.

STILL only 25, Jamie Ritchie has been a senior leadership figure with both Edinburgh and Scotland for some time now - arguably since as far back as the 2019 World Cup, when Japan awarded him a ceremonial sword as their most respected opponent.

TEAM Scotland has accumulated a massive haul of medals at Commonwealth Games since the turn of the century, from a total of 30 at Manchester in 2002 to 44 in the Gold Coast four years later. So far, rugby sevens has yet to contribute even a solitary bronze to that total - but Lee Jones, for one, is confident that could be about to change.

EDINBURGH will hope to emulate their most impressive European performance of last season when they kick off their Champions Cup campaign in December with a visit to Saracens.

SCOTLAND will need to improve significantly all round the park in today’s second Test if they are going to level the series. Head coach Gregor Townsend highlighted the restarts as one area of concern in last week’s 26-18 defeat, but in reality his team were second best to Argentina in many departments.

AMIDST the general disappointment of last week’s defeat in the first Test against Argentina, it is perhaps too easily forgotten that, for a significant if all too brief stretch of play, Scotland played rather well.

HAMISH Watson will win his 50th cap for Scotland tomorrow as the tourists bid to bounce back from last week’s opening-match defeat in the three-Test series against Argentina.