‘I would hate to play against him’ – Matthews hails emerging Scotland star

Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews hailed “phenomenal” team-mate Gregor Brown after the versatile Scotland forward demonstrated more of his burgeoning talent on an evening of milestones for both players.

Brown, 24, created the first of George Horne’s two tries in a 49-0 URC win over Dragons on Saturday with a charge down the left touchline before steaming back inside and delivering a sumptuous out-the-back offload for the supporting scrum-half to score.

“It was unreal from George,” Brown said. “He is always on those inside lines. He was screaming loud enough I could hear him, so I just trusted he was there.”

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The ‘hybrid’ forward, who has started Glasgow’s last two games at blindside flanker after winning the latest of his 10 Scotland caps in the second row, later collected Euan Ferrie’s tip-on pass before crashing through Huw Anderson’s attempted tackle to score his first Warriors try, in his 38th game for the club. “I think I have been held up seven or eight times, so it was nice to get over for one,” he said.

As well as scoring and assisting tries, Brown was Glasgow’s leading ball-carrier against Dragons with 14 and also weighed in with 12 tackles, second behind Ferrie’s 17.

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Having started Scotland’s last Six Nations game against France and their last Test against Samoa in July, Brown’s rapid progress received further recognition with a call-up to the British and Irish Lions squad in Australia, playing in their final midweek game against First Nations & Pasifika.

“He is phenomenal, his work rate, whether he is in the second row or the back row,” Matthews noted. “His offload for George (Horne)’s try, his ball carrying, the shots he puts in in defence, he is a big powerful fella. He is one of those players I am glad he is on my team. I would hate to play against him; he is always there.”

Matthews, 32, has a similar knack of being in the right place when it comes to getting over the opposition try-line.

It felt appropriate that after coming off the bench for Gregor Hiddleston, who had just finished off a driving maul for Glasgow’s bonus-point fourth try, Matthews should mark his 100th Warriors appearance with his 49th try for the club, moving clear into third place on his own – above former Scotland wing Tommy Seymour – in their all-time try-scorers list.

“You could tell I was desperate to get into position there,” Matthews grinned, after Dragons held up an initial lineout drive just short of the line, with the hooker swiftly on hand to plunge over. “I might have been telling a few boys to get out of the way!

“It is always good to score, but even better to get a win as a team and the most important thing was getting the nil there and showing the discipline to keep them out.”

Nevertheless Matthews, who has scored 37 tries in 66 outings over the last three seasons, but none in his last 12 games, admitted it was “pretty cool” to be on the scoresheet on the occasion of a big personal milestone.

“I’m pretty fortunate to sit behind quite a disciplined pack,” he told Premier Sports. “They work really hard on that rolling maul, particularly when we get to five metres out, with the pick-and-goes.

“The boys have put together what they called a highlights reel for me, but really it’s just me flopping over from a yard! I think it would have been the easiest highlight reel anyone has put together. But it is brilliant. To be a centurion at any club is pretty special, but even more so at this club. I’m really proud to have done it.”

Warriors took a 14-0 lead after 25 minutes, but captain Kyle Steyn revealed they had “got the proper hairdryer treatment” from head coach Franco Smith at half-time, after a lacklustre second quarter.

Asked what had made the difference after they racked up five more tries in a dominant second-half display, Matthews added: “That was a rocket from Franco! The message was just to work that little bit harder. We were creating the opportunities, we just weren’t in a position to do it.

“That was down to effort, not style of play. We were doing the right things, we just needed to work harder to get into position and execute. That was the main thing – to apply ourselves a bit harder and then the fitness would tell, and we pulled away in the last 25 minutes.”

Victory lifted Glasgow into the top three of the URC ahead of a trip to face Ospreys in Bridgend next Saturday.