“I was hugely shocked,” Gregor Townsend says as he remembers how, 20 years ago, Glasgow faced Leicester in a play-off to decide which club reached the quarter-finals of the old European Cup. Townsend was a gifted playmaker for Northampton then. Leicester were Northampton’s bitterest rivals and, on a dismal afternoon, they demolished Glasgow 90-19.
Townsend is now the inspirational coach of Glasgow Warriors, the rejuvenated club which has helped transform Scottish rugby. This summer he will became Scotland’s national coach but first, on Sunday, Glasgow play Saracens in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup. The game represents Glasgow’s greatest achievement – and illustrates Scotland’s progress.
“It was not good for the morale of Scottish rugby,” the 43-year-old says of the embarrassment in 1997. “I had good mates from the Scottish national side playing for Glasgow. There was optimism because Glasgow were one game from a European quarter-final. But, suddenly, we realised the gap was so big. It was only the second year of the game being officially professional – but the English and French clubs had been professional for years.”
Saracens are the best team in Europe but Glasgow will travel to the champions with restored belief. That conviction, which has emerged over the five seasons in which Townsend has coached the Warriors with intelligence and ambition, was bolstered by a return to Welford Road in January. Glasgow had already beaten Leicester at home but they needed to win away to ensure their historic qualification for the quarter-finals.
“When the draw was made,” Townsend says, “I thought: That’s really nice we’ve got Leicester last game of the pool, and the same venue as 1997. It would be great to put a full stop on 20 years.”
At Scotstoun Stadium, where the Warriors train and play, Townsend’s face lights up. Glasgow inflicted a 43-0 thrashing which marked the famous old English club’s most humiliating defeat. “The players had a real look in their eyes all week. There was confidence and calm. There were also lots of Glasgow supporters and during the warm-up, when they announced our team, starting at 15 with Stuart Hogg, there were massive cheers for each player. When the game began, and we were scoring [six] tries, it sounded like we had more supporters than Leicester. Everything clicked.”
Was it the best performance of Townsend’s coaching career? “I think so. We won the Pro12 final against Munster [31‑13 in 2015] and that was for a trophy. But we didn’t play so well during that second half. But our attitude in the second half against Leicester was outstanding. At half-time you have a long walk from the top of the stand at Welford Road. I was trying to rack my brains to remember games I’d been involved in where you’re 30 points up at half-time. There had been none as a coach but I remembered 1999 for Scotland [when Townsend scored a try in every match of the old Five Nations and Scotland won the championship] and the last game in Paris. We scored five tries in the first half – but none in the second.
“I remembered the Scotland coaches [led by Jim Telfer] were even more excited than the players. So at Leicester I said to the other coaches: ‘Let’s not go in the changing room.’ We could hear the players talking and I thought: ‘Let’s wait until they calm down. We should then be as boring as possible.’ In the end I also said: ‘You don’t get opportunities like this very often. This could become a really special day rather than just a special 40 minutes.’ In the second half they played just as well and we’ll always remember that day.”
The challenge of beating Saracens away is more daunting. But Townsend relishes the opportunity to confront a club for whom he has such admiration. “Saracens have become our role model – in the way they’ve built a winning rugby culture with such consistency. We haven’t played Saracens since I’ve been coach but I’ve followed them closely. They’ve been very open and three years ago I went down to talk about their stadium because they’re in a similar situation with the athletics track and a 3G pitch. They were really helpful and gave us new ideas. We’ve got a good relationship with [Saracens’ coach] Mark McCall and he’s always sharing things.
“We’ve been looking closely to find ways we can beat them. But we know how good they are because they haven’t lost a game in Europe for two years. They’ve got a real clarity about their play and the Vunipola brothers are back and maybe George Kruis too. But we play outstanding teams like Munster and Leinster in the Pro 12 and in Europe this season we’ve beaten Racing and Leicester home and away. This will be the ultimate challenge but we go there with confidence and could take 6,000 fans.”
Last season’s quarter-finals featured only French and English teams. This year Glasgow, Munster and Leinster have broken the Anglo-French grip. Townsend smiles at a report which suggests the average Top 14 French club get £5m from television revenue, an English Premiership side receives £3.5m while Pro 12 teams like Glasgow earn £1m annually.
“Money obviously helps – but we have an advantage over the French and English teams because lots of our players come from this area and the majority are Scottish. We have that cohesion and players aren’t just here for a season or two.”
Despite his coaching achievements, Townsend focuses on Glasgow’s changed rugby culture. Showing me around Scotstoun he explains that they have had a sold-out crowd for every home game this season. “Many of our fans come from a football background but they now have a real connection with their rugby team. The players don’t have big egos and will be signing autographs 20 minutes after a game. I meet people after matches and they say: ‘It’s my first game and I love it.’ They can’t believe they can have a beer and most of the players are there so they can speak to them. It’s very refreshing for traditional football fans and great to see the evolution of a rugby club.
“I’ll tell you a story from the night we played Munster in a Pro 12 semi-final here in 2014. We had 10,000 at the game and the atmosphere was incredible. We went out for a few beers after the win and I jumped in a taxi at two in the morning. The old Glasgow taxi driver said: ‘Did you hear about the Warriors tonight? They had a great win.’
“I said: ‘Yeah, I heard.’”
Knowing Townsend as well as I do, I expect he didn’t reveal his identity to the driver. “No. I didn’t say anything but I thought: ‘Isn’t this great? He’s a football man but he’s proud of his city’s rugby team.’”
Monday marks the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Rugby Union’s decision to disband the Border Reivers – their third professional side behind Glasgow and Edinburgh. Townsend is a Borders man and his family home is still in the area. His final match also marked the very last game played by Borders in 2007. “If you’d asked supporters, journalists and players in 2007: ‘Has professional rugby got a future in Scotland’, most would’ve said: ‘No. The players will all leave because no one comes to the games.’ Fast forward 10 years and we’re getting sell-outs every week. The really encouraging thing is crowd numbers have grown so much in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and fans are travelling to away games.
“The kick-start was the changed mindset from Scottish Rugby. Even five years ago there was still a view that professional club rugby was a cost in the balance sheet. It was a necessary evil but they didn’t believe we’d ever get crowds or sponsors to make it sustainable. But Mark Dodson, Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, said: ‘Let’s put money into the [club] game.’
“Glasgow had so much potential because the crowd was small but passionate. It was waiting to happen and I was very lucky my tenure coincided with us moving here. The supporters said: ‘Right, we’re not sharing a football ground any more. This is our home.’”
Players like Hogg, Finn Russell and Jonny Gray are among the best in Europe – a fact underlined by Scotland’s recent Six Nations victories over Ireland, Wales and Italy. Hogg was named the player of the tournament for the second successive year and the full-back is one of four or five Glasgow players who harbour realistic hopes of making the Lions squad.
“Those guys are all under 25. Stuart has already got 50 caps for Scotland, Finn came through the academy and got a chance in the Six Nations and hasn’t been out of the team since. Jonny has been outstanding since he came in the team aged 18 and has captained us the last two years. We’ve got a number of players in the Lions mix. Last time we had three Lions – Stuart, Sean Maitland and Ryan Grant – and that was brilliant. We now have 10 of Scotland’s starting 15 and they’re going well.”
Townsend was asked by Warren Gatland to become the Lions’ attack coach in New Zealand – an opportunity he turned down in order to lead Scotland on their summer tour. “It would’ve been great but the Scotland job is the most important for me,” he says. “Touring gives you time to be with the squad and we’re playing Tests against Italy, Australia and Fiji. It’s the right decision.”
As a player Townsend always stood out to me because, whenever I interviewed him, he spoke in detail about rugby in the southern hemisphere or France. He was more worldly than his contemporaries and ahead of his time in playing rugby in Australia, France and South Africa. His desire for knowledge meant that before he switched roles from being Scotland backs’ coach to Glasgow’s director of rugby in 2012, he spent six weeks in New Zealand.
“I contacted Wayne Smith, a good friend, as he was assisting Dave Rennie at the Chiefs. They formed the side that won the Super Rugby competition that year. I don’t think anybody thought they would but it was a brilliant, collaborative environment. At times you didn’t know whether Sonny Bill Williams was head coach or Dave or Wayne because, in a meeting, they all contributed. The Chiefs also outworked everyone. They trained really hard on a Thursday, when most teams took it easy. That helped me just before I became a head coach.”
Townsend is thrilled that, next season, Rennie will replace him at Scotstoun. His stirring years with Glasgow are almost over – but a smiling Townsend knows that, should the Warriors stun Saracens, they are guaranteed a home semi-final with the final to follow in Edinburgh. “If we were to win down there it would be the biggest result in our history. Beating the European champions would be amazing.
“A couple of weeks ago I was on the training field and it went from sleet to sunshine. It didn’t feel so poignant when it was sleeting but just after that the sun came out. I looked around and thought: ‘I’ll definitely miss being here.’ But the club is in good hands and the players are still here next year. They will get better and better in Glasgow.”
