Duncan Weir relishes chance to prove worth

DUNCAN Weir is determined to make it hard for Glasgow coach Sean Lineen to hand a recall to Ruaridh Jackson when the Scotland stand-off returns from World Cup duty in New Zealand.

Young playmaker Weir will tonight bid to help the Warriors prove that their excellent Pro12 triumph over European champions Leinster last weekend was no one-off.

Glasgow square up to Treviso at Firhill, with Weir recalled to the starting line-up following his “breather” on the bench in Dublin.

Weir played a major part in staving off the Leinster fightback at the RDS and he wants to carry on against the Italians where he left off.

He said: “I am really enjoying the chance to get the game-time because I need to mature as a player. With Ruaridh away, it is a huge opportunity for me to show I can cut it at this level.

“The team’s performance in Dublin was great – but we saw it coming and wasn’t a shock to the boys. We cut out the mistakes that gave the opposition the lead in the two previous games and the defence was outstanding in the last ten or 15 minutes.”

Weir, however, is well aware that a slip-up tonight will negate all of the good work achieved by Glasgow in Duiblin last week. “That result will count for nothing if we can’t back it up this weekend,” he said. “I hope we get a good crowd and that the atmosphere will help us to put on another good performance.”

Weir has also set his sights on overturning Glasgow’s narrow defeat to the Italians on foreign territory last season, a game where he felt partly responsible for what went wrong.

He said: “Sean Lineen was screaming at me to slot a drop goal to get a draw. But Colin Gregor saw a gap and it didn’t work, so they sneaked the win. Treviso are a very solid outfit who play a good kicking game but, hopefully, our structure will be good enough to overcome that.”

Having named his starting XV 24 hours earlier, Lineen yesterday confirmed his bench, with Johnnie Beattie named among the replacements having recovered from a knee injury.

The back-row forward is in line for his first Warriors involvement of the season.

Lineen said: “It’s great to have Johnnie back in the fold. He’s a talented, confident player who has been a great asset for Glasgow Warriors for a long time, and I’ve been very impressed with how he’s dealt with not being part of the Rugby World Cup.

“He was obviously extremely disappointed not to be selected, but I’d be more worried about a player who didn’t initially react that way because it would hint at a lack of ambition.

“The great thing about Johnnie is that he quickly moved on from that disappointment and threw himself into getting back fit and performing for Glasgow Warriors.

“We’ve got good competition in the back row at the moment, with Rob Harley, Chris Fusaro, Ryan Wilson, James Eddie and Rory Pitman all showing up well. I’ve also been happy with the way that young guys like Nick Campbell, Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne and Finlay Gillies have stepped up. This game will be another learning curve for these players, having shown they can live with a side like Leinster.”