I watched Glasgow Warriors clash with Newcastle Red Bulls and noted plenty positives ahead of season
Experience bested youth at Kingston Park as a Newcastle team packed with big names proved too much for Franco Smith’s young Warriors.
Glasgow Warriors’ first pre-season fixture of the 2026/27 campaign ended with them on the wrong side of a 47-31 defeat at the hands of Newcastle Red Bulls at Kingston Park.
Despite the scoreline, there were plenty of positives for Franco Smith’s side, mainly the fact that his up-and-coming talent got the chance to test themselves against some hugely experienced opponents. Warriors were without their international stars, with prop Murphy Walker and lock Jare Oguntibeju among the players named in their starting XV with the most appearances.
The likes of Patrick Schickerling, Sam Talakai and Euan Ferrie saw minutes from the replacements bench, but Newcastle fielded close to a full strength side for the warm-up clash. It will have proved a useful experience for these young players to come up against some big-name veterans even in a ‘friendly’ environment.
Youthful Glasgow Warriors earn valuable experience against high-calibre Newcastle Red Bulls side
The hosts’ back line was a who’s who of familiar faces including 46-times-capped Scotland centre Chris Harris, a British & Irish Lion from the 2021 tour of South Africa. Scrum-half Raffi Quirke is an England international, Werner Kok tore up the URC with Ulster last season and Christian Wade is one of English club rugby’s greatest wingers.
Both Wade and Harris scored first-half tries for Newcastle along with full-back Josh Hodge and flankers Sam Graham and Tom Christie. Hodge notched all five conversions with Kerr Johnston scoring a fine Glasgow try from close range, crashing over from centre partner Kerr Yule’s pass from five meters.
While the game did look somewhat one-sided at times, particularly in the first half where the hosts were 35-7 up at the break, it was a competitive fixture overall despite the vast difference in experience levels. The second half was a much closer contest, even before some of the more senior players were introduced, and that will have been particularly pleasing for the visiting coaching team.
Guy Rodgers scored a second half double for Warriors while Jamie McAughtrie and Callum Reidy came off the bench for scores. Red Bulls added two more of their own from George McGuigan and Oli Spencer.
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Many of this group of young Warriors certainly come under the category of ‘raw’ but they’re past the point of being looked at as potential URC players and look more than ready for regular competitive minutes. With so many high-profile departures in the summer, they are likely to get that opportunity.
As a unit they’re clearly not at that level yet. However, as individuals they could easily slot into Smith’s starting XV and thrive with the benefit of the internationalists around them to steady things and offset their inexperience.
It shows that Warriors have tremendous strength in depth waiting for their chance to impress in a competitive environment. No club will go through a season without injuries and when those inevitably come for Glasgow they have a deep, deep well of talent to go down.
It was noticeable that this side played like a Warriors team. That may sound obvious given they train together and are coached by the same people but it’s exactly what you want to see, the clear identity in their style that the Scotstoun faithful have become accustomed to.
First taste of senior rugby for next big Scotland star?
Finally, a quick mention for Jake Dalziel who played the second half for Newcastle. The Scotland under-20s stand-off, who only turned 18 last month, got his first experience of senior men’s rugby in this game.
There’s a good chance it won’t be Dalziel’s last this season either, and not just in the warm-up fixtures. He looked a bit shaky at the start but quickly grew into the game and some semi-regular minutes for Red Bulls this season looks a real possibility.
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