Dickinson praises full 80-minute performance against Chiefs

• 18 Dec 2021

Glasgow Warriors scrum coach Al Dickinson was full of praise after Glasgow’s gutsy and physical 22 – 7 win over Exeter Chiefs at Scotstoun.

15 points from the boot of Ross Thompson and Johnny Matthews’ first try in Europe’s premier club competition sealed the deal for the home side, giving the Warrior Nation the perfect early Christmas present.

“That’s a huge win for the club, and the manner in how we did it was massive,” said Glasgow Warriors scrum coach, Al Dickinson.

“The atmosphere in the dressing room after the match was class. Ali [Price] spoke really well about how much that win means to the boys, the supporters, friends, family – everyone involved.

“Everyone is just delighted”

On the ‘interesting’ conditions Dickinson remarked: “That’s just rugby. If you’re going to play rugby in mid-winter in Scotland you’ve got to expect weird conditions.

“I thought we did well and adapted to them. They weren’t ideal, but, I think the way we handled them and how we managed to implement our game plan was great.

“With Exeter you have to match them physically and the set-piece was always going to play a massive part in the game.

“Our set-piece got us into the game, we matched them physically and created opportunities, however, we all believe we left a couple of scores out there.”

Despite feeling like there were more scores to be had, Dickinson was quick to praise Glasgow’s complete 80-minute performance: “The boys worked really hard for the full 80 minutes – it was fantastic.”

Being a scrum specialist Dickinson couldn’t not mention Glasgow’s performance at scrum time.

“It was always going to be a tough battle up front. Exeter have am excellent scrum and an excellent forward pack.”

“For us to manage to win those scrum battles on key occasions was huge. We talked about that match up all week and the boys fronted up really well and adapted to what was in front of them.

“All credit goes to the boys.”

Next up Glasgow face another familiar foe in the form of the Edinburgh Rugby in the first leg of the 1872 Cup at Scotstoun on 27 December.

On the upcoming match up Dicko, as he’s known around the club, said, “I think we have to keep building on our performances and continuing to up our standards in training and in games.

“The boys hold themselves to high standards and we don’t expect anything less going into next week.

“It’s a massive game.”