Rory Darge cites Glasgow Warriors ‘gut punch’ as powerful motivator for URC run-in

There are five rounds of fixtures remaining in the United Rugby Championship regular season and Franco Smith’s side are riding high in second place, tucked in five points behind leaders Leinster. The next few weeks have the potential to shape Glasgow’s destiny and Darge and Co are looking to go one better than last year when they lost in the final of the Challenge Cup.

As disappointing as it was, the Quins loss might help. The Warriors were fighting on two fronts then but the URC is now their sole focus and they welcome the Sharks to Scotstoun on Friday evening in the first of the five games which will determine their play-off opponents and venues.

“Where you finish is obviously massive and then how you prepare for those knock-out games,” said Darge who knows that a top-two finish will keep them at Scotstoun for the play-offs. “But how you play in the build-up to those is very important as well. Every game is important in terms of performance, not just result.

“Our record points towards how important playing at home is for us. There’s a really good atmosphere here and this weekend it’s Plaster It Purple where a lot of money is going to be raised for the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity. Every time we’ve done it there’s been a good atmosphere. It’s a big thing for the club.”

The Euro exit meant Glasgow had the weekend off and Darge joined some of his team-mates at a barbeque at Argentine prop Lucio Sordoni’s house. It was a chance to relax ahead of a busy period but the Scotland co-captain would rather have been playing and the manner of the Quins defeat still rankles.

“The first couple of sessions after a loss that felt like a bit of a gut punch,” he said. “We felt like we missed a couple of opportunities in that one. When a game is close like that you always rue not taking those chances. So the boys have plenty motivation after that one.”

Another powerful motivator was the way last season ended. Before losing to Toulon in the Challenge Cup final, Glasgow were knocked out of the URC play-offs at the quarter-final stage when Munster pulled off that rarest of feats: an away win at Scotstoun. A red card for stand-off Tom Jordan in the first half hit them hard and the Irish visitors went on to become the first team to beat the Warriors at home for 17 months.

“That Munster game in the quarter-finals, there was the early red card but we looked at it after and there were loads of things we could have done better,” reflected Darge. “The [Challenge Cup] final against Toulon also sticks out as the game where we didn’t really fire a shot. We didn’t show what we were about. We’ve got better in that regard and we fired some shots in the Harlequins game but there were still a couple of chances we left out there. And discipline in the first half was also a big issue. But we’re all desperate to win these games.”