Glasgow's Williamson Fronts Up As Bulls Promise Charge

URC: Glasgow Warriors v Bulls

Venue: Scotsoun Stadium, Glasgow Date: Friday, 25 April Time: 19:35 BST

Coverage: Follow unrecorded matter sum connected nan BBC Sport website & app

Even if he was not nan size of a ample building block, erstwhile large Max Williamson refers to Friday night's brushwood betwixt Glasgow Warriors and nan Bulls arsenic a "massive battle", you would not beryllium minded to disagree.

Williamson, inching his measurement backmost to wellness successful Glasgow's 2nd statement aft missing 4 months of nan play done injury, is spot connected here, A repetition of past year's last and a conflict of 2nd versus 3rd successful this year's array - it doesn't get a full batch bigger.

The stakes and nan rhetoric are high. Bulls caput coach Jake White said this week that everybody progressive pinch his squad wrote nan day of this crippled connected their wall erstwhile nan fixtures were published.

It was a reference to nan angst Glasgow dumped connected them successful Pretoria past summertime erstwhile nan Bulls raced into a 13-0 lead successful nan United Rugby Championship Grand Final only for nan underdogs to wound backmost and triumph nan point against nan odds.

"I tin committedness you, from nan time we started pre-season, 25 April was ever going to beryllium nan crippled that we were going to spell difficult for," said White of Friday night.

To beryllium adjacent to Glasgow, they person thrown immoderate petrol connected nan occurrence themselves. Earlier successful nan week, Nigel Carolan, a cardinal coach successful Franco Smith's operation, said astir nan presence of nan Bulls and compared Scotstoun to a slaughterhouse.

For nan South Africans, who person mislaid 2 of nan past 3 URC finals, that will beryllium grist to nan mill. Quite honestly, Eddie Hearn astatine his astir bombastic could not person done a amended occupation astatine promoting this game.

Speaking connected nan BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast, Williamson weighed up nan value of Friday. With only 3 games near successful nan convention shape and only 4 points betwixt Glasgow successful 2nd and nan Bulls successful third, nan margins are tight.

Glasgow are already guaranteed a location quarter-final. Beating nan Bulls would spell an awfully agelong measurement towards securing a location semi-final arsenic well, if they get there. None of this is mislaid connected Williamson, 22.

These are nan dicey times for nan Warriors. Of their glorious broadside that won nan title past season, upwards of 8 won't beryllium playing successful this game, for various reasons, mostly injury.

So having Friday starter Williamson backmost connected nan transportation this past fewer weeks, albeit from nan bench, is precisely what Smith needed. It's precisely what Williamson wanted, too. He was successful superior shape successful nan autumn and played thunderously for Scotland against South Africa astatine Murrayfield, only to succumb to injury. The Six Nations came and went without him.

"I injured myself successful November, and past re-injured myself successful January, which was evidently tough, but it was besides a bully opportunity," he says.

"I played a batch of rugby successful nan past 12 months, truthful it was a bully opportunity to get a spot of beingness development. That's benignant of nan measurement I tried to rotation it. The 1 advantage of being injured is that I consciousness really caller now."

What astir these angry Bulls, then. "Yeah, huge," comments Williamson. "You know, looking astatine nan table, it's massive. With what happened past year, we cognize they're going to beryllium coming. They've said it - this is nan crippled for them. So we're up for that too.

"We cognize it's going to beryllium a conflict connected Friday night. That's what it's going to be. We cognize they're coming present for a beingness contest. We want to return nan rugby to them and lucifer them successful that beingness battle.

"It will decidedly beryllium a feisty game. They ever bring their physicality and we're not going to guidelines backmost and fto them do it."

Statistically, Glasgow person much points for and less points against, much tries for and less tries against, much cleanable breaks, much turnovers won, much prize points.

All nan metrics show you they are favourites to win, but you cannot put a number connected aggression and rage for victory. There is nary information that records nan type of earthy desire that White has spoken about.

Glasgow will not beryllium lacking successful that section either. Andrew Brace is refereeing. Given nan fighting talk from some of these heavyweights, he mightiness beryllium arsenic good bring a doorbell arsenic a whistle to nan Scotstoun scrap.