Glasgow Warriors depth chart – the Six Nations

With international duties calling for many of the Warriors’ squad, attention turns to what sort of team the club can put out during the Test window. This is where the depth created by Gregor Townsend’s recruitment and selection policies is really examined and could have a crucial bearing on the remainder of the season.

Here’s a wee reminder of the official On Top Of The Moon depth chart for the Warriors from earlier this season (click for large version):

And here is that same depth chart ahead of the game against the Ospreys on Sunday 31st January (click for large version):

Where is everybody?

• Scotland – 18 players (including the injured Henry Pyrgos)
• Scotland 7s – 3 players
• Scotland under 20s – 4 players
• On loan – 4 players
• Injured – 7 players
• Normal squad size is 52 full time pros and 13 SRA.
• Current squad size is 24 full time pros and 5 SRA

Scotstoun must have been a bit of a ghost town this week with the number of absentees! Hopefully this won’t be the final group available for the Ospreys game. Bob Harley is supposed to be back in training for example and there is always the possibility that some of the fringe players will be released from the Scotland camps in order to bolster the Glasgow squad.

The opposition

The rest of the Pro 12 will also be suffering to various degrees, with players missing as many as 6 fixtures during the Six Nations. For comparison the numbers for each club who are away with the senior national squads are:

• Leinster – 17
• Munster – 7
• Ulster – 7
• Connacht -4
• Zebre – 13
• Treviso – 9
• Edinburgh – 10
• Blues – 9
• Ospreys – 8
• Scarlets – 7
• Dragons – 3

It’s going to be a tricky couple of months for the Warriors but Toony has proved himself more than capable of juggling his resources. He will need to marshal his troops very effectively if Glasgow are to emerge from the Six Nations period with their playoff ambitions intact.