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Scotland receive much-needed injury boost one week before Test series


Scotland' played in a huddle at the end of the matchduring the Guinness Six Nations 2025 match between England and Scotland at Allianz Stadium on February 22, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Bob Bradford - CameraSport/CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Scotland No.8 Jack Dempsey is set to make his first Glasgow Warriors appearance since January when he runs out at Scotstoun on Friday to face the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship.

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A hamstring sustained during the Six Nations has wiped out much of the 31-year-old’s 2025, and he was robbed of his return to action at the beginning of the season after sustaining a groin injury in the warm-up to the victory over the Sharks.

With fellow Glasgow back-row Rory Darge still out, this will be a welcome return for Scotland boss Gregor Townsend, with their Autumn Nations Series campaign getting underway against the USA next week.

The former Australia-turned-Scotland international is one of a handful of changes made to the team from outfit that triumphed over the Ospreys last week.

Another Scotland international, loosehead Jamie Bhatti, will also return to the starting XV having missed the last two weeks of action.

Fixture
United Rugby Championship
Glasgow
21 - 12
Full-time
Bulls
All Stats and Data

Speaking ahead of the match, Warriors boss Franco Smith said to glasgowwarriors.org: “We know we must be at our best this weekend, as we look to finish the first block of fixtures on a high.

“The Bulls possess one of the strongest and deepest squads in the URC; they are consistent in the quality of performances they produce, and their track record – including reaching three of the first four URC finals – shows the calibre and quality of squad they have at their disposal.

“We know we must be at the right level physically and mentally in order to meet their challenge tomorrow night.”

Glasgow Warriors XV
1 Jamie Bhatti (127)
2 Johnny Matthews (101)
3 Murphy Walker (18)
4 Max Williamson (35)
5 Scott Cummings (145)
6 Gregor Brown (38)
7 Matt Fagerson (128)
8 Jack Dempsey (55)
9 George Horne (142)
10 Adam Hastings (73)
11 Kyle Rowe (40)
12 Sione Tuipulotu (71)
13 Stafford McDowall (97)
14 Kyle Steyn (C) (95)
15 Josh McKay (67)

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Replacements
16 Seb Stephen (2)
17 Nathan McBeth (58)
18 Sam Talakai (24)
19 Alex Samuel (44)
20 Alex Craig (2)
21 Euan Ferrie (43)
22 Ben Afshar (24)
23 Dan Lancaster (4)

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NoLongerARuck 51 minutes ago
Rugby's Greatest Rivalry deep dive - what has happened to the All Blacks’ scrum?

Alot of people have talked about how the AB's are making progress and getting closer to the Boks. Its also important to ask where the net gain has been. In 4 games under Razor the AB's attack failed dismally and struggled to score tries. The Boks outscored them comprehensively. Even so the All Blacks led for long periods in Joburg and Cape Town in 24. They lost each game by one score. They led all the way in Auckland and led for a quarter of the match in Wellington. Razors team always lost control in the final quarter of matches against the boks where the Boks bench completely overpowered them.

Under Rennie the AB's have scored plenty of tries, more than the Boks, they have rediscovered their attacking threat but they have regressed in other areas. Their scrum has totally capitulated, their lineout has been hammered, they are turning the ball over more at break down and in the tackle. They are making mistakes within their attacking template that has cost them and presented the Boks opportunities and so their defence has suffered with the Boks making hay in the last 3 games outscoring them in terms of tries and pts during that period. They have conceded 2 and 3 score leads in the last 3 matches heading into the final quarter. At Cape Town it was 16 points, Soweto 12 pts and in the US 15 pts. The Boks established control of Rennies team earlier and led for longer with AB's forced to chase games. They won the second half in Ellis Park comprehensively and the final quarters in the next 2 matches matches but little else illustrating the lack of control for the AB's.



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