AFTER a summer where Glasgow Warriors supporters have been wondering when all their signings would come, the club have at last unveiled one of the deals they have been promising, bringing in a New Zealand prop.
It is a bit of a strange one, though. When all the attention has been on how clubs like Glasgow will cope without their World Cup players, they have brought in Aki Seiuili from the Highlanders knowing he cannot travel until after his commitments in New Zealand are complete.
That definitely takes him to mid October, and if his team reach the knockout stages of the ITM Cup, it could be the end of the month before he finishes with Otago and heads for Scotland at almost the same time as the World Cup players.
Dave Rennie, the Glasgow head coach, has known about Seiuili for a while and reckons he will make a difference with his ball-carrying ability, with the possibility that he could link up with Siua Halanukonuka, the Tongan international, in a formidably big front row.
His main competition looks like coming from South African Oli Kebble, who signed a contract extension two weeks ago, but all this adds to the national team’s problems. Pierre Schoeman is likely to remain top choice at Edinburgh, meaning no Scottish looseheads will start regularly for either Scottish club.
It is not a problem at hooker, where Michael Willemse at Edinburgh is the only non-qualified possible starter. When Glasgow needed to plug the gap caused by losing both Fraser Brown and George Turner to the World Cup with Grant Stewart on standby for injuries, they did it by bring another Scots-qualified player.
Not that Jonny Matthews’ Liverpool accent gives much hint of his Scottish mother, but he is keen to make a go of the opportunity after topping the scoring charts for Boroughmuir last season.
“To begin with, I was coming in for the unit days whenever I could because I was trying to balance my job with Boroughmuir. Then, Glasgow offered me the training contract, which I was buzzing to sign,” he said.
“Going from part-time training to full time obviously has an impact on your physique. I’ve definitely put on a bit more muscle and trimmed down a little bit. I’ve definitely picked up some things which will help my game.
“Long term has got to be the ambition, but I’m just taking it game-by-game at the minute. As it stands my contract runs out in December, so I’m going to do as much as I can to get that extended.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here