Fresh from their stunning victory over Biarritz 
last week, www.rucked.com caught up with Glasgow Warriors director of rugby Sean Lineen to find out what’s what…
Hello Sean.
Hi there mate.
How things?
I’m fine, looking over a lake in Biarritz from my balcony looking in a lovely hotel.
Nice.
Well you’ve got to take the highs as well as the lows and enjoy the good times when they come along.
Last week’s result, not bad…
Yeah it gave bit us a bit of credibility, a lot of people interest has been created as a result and now we’ve got to show it wasn’t a one off. Showing that we’ve got some consistency is going to be the challenge for the players. I think we’ve shown that though, that’s why we’ve not been beaten at home in the Magners League since January.
What’ve you done to turn things around since you took over?
I gave the players a kick up the backside, I gave them some genuine belief and let them know we stood by being honest. I brought in about six players that I knew could add value such as Thom Evans, Andy Newman, Justin Va’A and Alastair Kellock – who’s made a huge difference as captain. I could always see there was potential here but it was a case of difference as captain, but it’s getting past the Scottish psyche that the glass is always half empty. We needed to give them a bit of belief.
What was the standard of the squad like when you arrived?
There were good players but there were fairly poor players too and I could see it – they weren’t up to it mentally and in some case they weren’t mentally and physically up to it. Some were just not very good. So 11 were removed and placed elsewhere where they could play rugby. I wanted to create an environment at Glasgow that the players could see was ambitious, I wanted them to achieve things and not just make up the numbers as it was in the past. The players have been fantastic and we’ve got some young, quality, Scottish players – who could’ve gone elsewhere – signing up for two more years.
Now you’ve won a few you’re no longer expected to lose…
Yeah it’s one of those things, we’re not the classic underdog anymore – which is an easy thing to hide behind – our heads’ are above the parapet now though and we’ve got to get our heads around that. When I took over last season, we lost to the Dragons at home and that was a real low point. This season we lost to Connacht and that was the real low, we should never have lost, but I guess at least an away defeat is better than a home one. We should never have lost though, everyone expected us to win but we didn’t win it – we’re still learning…
The Heineken Cup group is looking pretty tight…
It is wide open – it’s a tough group. Viadana gave us a hurry up, we didn’t take them serious enough. You tell the players to be wary but it didn’t happen. Saracens are quality and to be feared and so are Biarritz, they’ve been to a couple of semis and finals which isn’t bad is it? We’re finding it all exciting, but if we don’t perform now it’ll mean nothing. We don’t want glorious failure again, it’s something that doesn’t sit well.
It is all about victories…
Professional sport is all about winning, we can wheel out all the excuses about lack of money, facilities, depth of squad but we’re in this to win and we have the backing of the SRU. We’re still financial lightweights compared to other clubs but we’re moving in the right direction and it’s exciting. It’s a fast-moving game…
The win has certainly gained you a few column inches…
Without a shadow of doubt, exposure is the only way to get the crowds in and that’s by winning. If you keep winning they’ll come but I’m disappointed by the crowd, those that were there [against Biarritz] were fantastic. The Warriors supporters’ club are brilliant and do a lot of events. But we need more people, the Glasgow public need to take a long, hard look at themselves and come along to watch and stop moaning and groaning.
What are they moaning about?
They use the football ground as an excuse, that’s how weak and pathetic people are. Firhill is a great ground, the players love it, but people say that it’s not right watching rugby at a football ground, they’d have rather we stayed at Hughenden, but it’s not a professional stadium.
What if you lose tonight?
I’m not going to jump off the Forth Bridge road but it will be a disappointment but, ultimately, it’s about how well we play. With a bit of a luck we can win it, we have the talent to win their game, but Biarritz will go up a couple of gears, and French sides are notoriously hard to beat at home. Although we’ve beaten Narbonne and Montpellier away so it can be done…
And where you off to now?
I’m going to get my factor 16 on now. It was minus two here last now but it’s fantastic, the boys are smiling – they’ve got the sun on backs and they’re just off to train. The professional life does have its ups…