The drain of Lion power that has blighted Glasgow Warriors of late was stemmed yesterday with the announcement that Tommy Seymour has agreed a new deal that will keep him at the club for the next year.
The winger’s fellow British & Irish Lions tourists Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg have been the highest profile players to decide to leave, but the Nashville-born 30-year-old, who was brought to Glasgow by Sean Lineen as an unproven 23-year-old seven years ago after playing just a handful of games for Ulster, has made his name and his life in the city and indicated that it had been a straightforward decision to stay.
“At my age there’s gonna be a multitude of things to think about, but I can’t pay Glasgow a higher compliment when you consider a larger array of things that Glasgow still comes out on top,” he said.“I love this club. Never did I think that it would be possible to be here as long as I have been. I’m incredibly fortunate and it’s an honour that they still want me around. Huge thanks to Dave (Rennie, their head coach) and Scottish Rugby and Nathan (Bombrys), Glasgow’s chief executive) for allowing me the opportunity to stay on. I could compliment Glasgow in a whole host of ways, but the fact my family is so happy here is important and I have made lifelong friends here as well. Some have left and some are still very much part of the club. I’m delighted to say I’ll be here for the next wee while at least. Glasgow has become my home in far more ways than one..”
His decision both reflects and will add to the feel-good factor within the Glasgow squad after a second successive bonus point away win in the Champions Cup that has transformed their chances of reaching the quarter-finals for only the second time ever and Seymour could not be happier at his work.
“We’ve got a really exciting brand of rugby and some great inside backs who can allow guys like me some some space,” he said. “It’s an exciting place to play, especially at Scotstoun when the supporters are in full voice. There’s no better feeling for me.”
That has generally been the case during his seven years at the club, but there has been a sense throughout that period that substance has been secondary to style at Scotstoun, with an inability to reproduce the sort of rugby that has earned them perennial involvement in the Pro12/14 play-offs on the European stage. While their qualification for the Champions Cup quarter-finals two seasons ago might seem to provide contradictory evidence, that campaign merely reinforces the point since that was the only year that Glasgow failed to make the Pro12 play-offs, while an inability to beat Europe’s best sides in the biggest matches has also resulted in a succession of defeats in knockout ties either side of their solitary trophy win in the 2015 Pro12 final. Seymour believes, however, that the current Glasgow set-up is capable of changing that, by maintaining challenges on two fronts for the first time.
“I have full confidence that we can do it,” he said. “We didn’t do ourselves justice in the year we qualified in Europe but I don’t think it’s a pick and choose scenario. The squad is in a great position now, with an amazing amount of depth. The past month is testament to that and how well the young guys who have come in have done.”
The best evidence of that is the way Glasgow have responded to the setback of losing their Champions Cup opener at home to Saracens, by thrashing both Cardiff Blues and Lyon in their next two matches, bodes well with two more matches to come, while arguably the best performance of the season was achieved by what was essentially second string side when they beat the Scarlets last time out at home, despite playing more than three quarters of the game with just 14 men.
In a sense it begins to look as if last season was merely a case of having to take a step backwards, in order to make real strides forward under a head coach of proven quality in two-time Super Rugby winner Dave Rennie, who knows what is required to win the big games.
“There are always going to be teething issues with a new coach coming in and trying to impart everything he wants as a club as well as playing style in one year,” Seymour observed. “The fact that he and the whole coaching staff were here for pre-season as well was helpful. Everyone can see that the extra time we’ve had together has transformed things on the field. I think we’re in a really good place and are showing a lot of the characteristics that the extra time has allowed us. Dave is happy. From a player’s perspective we’re starting to do the right things on the field and I hope we can keep that up.”
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