GLASGOW WARRIORS have handed senior professional contracts to four academy forwards, with second-rows Alex Samuel and Max Williamson, back-row Gregor Brown and hooker Angus Fraser all agreeing deals for an undisclosed period of time ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Brown, who is in the frame to feature in Saturday’s European Challenge Cup quarter-final clash against Lyon, made two appearances for the senior side last season but then missed the best part of a year with a knee injury. Initially from Aberdeen, the 20-year-old has returned to match fitness in recent weeks playing for Boroughmuir Bears in Super6.
Second-row Samuel captained Scotland Under-20s in their 2021 Six Nations campaign, but missed the 2022 championship due to a shoulder injury. At 6ft 9ins and 115kgs (18st 1lbs), he has the physical attributes to perform at the highest level.
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Fellow second-rower Williamson has been an ever-present for Scotland U20 since breaking into the setup last year, making 10 successive appearances across the 2021 and 2022 Six Nations campaigns, and he was recently included in the 32-man squad that travelled to South Africa for the United Rugby Championship double-header, although didn’t get game-time.
Dundonian hooker Fraser is a childhood friend of Murphy Walker, the prop who graduated from the academy to senior squad earlier this season. The 22-year-old previously spent a year at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa on the Macphail Scholarship.
“Angus, Alex, Gregor and Max have all applied themselves well recently and take the next step into professional rugby at Glasgow Warriors,” said Warriors head coach Danny Wilson. “We’re all looking forward to seeing these young men continue to grow in our environment and compete for their place in our match day 23.”
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Lyon v Glasgow: loss of Rory Darge adds to Warriors’ injury woes
Exciting to see these talented group of players coming through – best of luck to all of them.
Some of these new academy graduates are origin North and Midlands which is the second biggest rugby
area in Scotland . How many of the current SQP Pros
In Glasgow , Edinburgh and England are from N&M .
Big enough numbers to revive the Caledonian Reds?
Interesting idea just as the Welsh are
considering disbanding one of their regions a spare place may come up in the URC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/61325542
Not far away from a full N&M XV now, but not quite there…probably best they could manage would be J Henry; K Rowe, A Russell, P Kelly, L Trotter; F Russell, G Horne;
J Bhatti, A Fraser, Z Fagerson, G Gilchrist, C Henderson, H Burr, M Bradbury, M Fagerson
with the likes of S Kennedy, J Dobie, K Barreto, M Walker, A Nicol, M McCallum, M Williamson, A Samuel, G Brown and L Wynne as back up.
So a bit short on pro level backs but if it is done strictly on ‘region of origin’ basis, none of the other 3 regions can fill a full XV of pro players either; all four could if we selectively distributed SQ players playing in Scotland across 4 regions rather than 2
nearly a full xv of 99-02 births now signed up to play pro in Scotland next season
O Smith 00
R McLean 00
M Currie 01
(N Chamberlain 00)
J Blain 00
R Thompson 99
J Dobie 01
S Grahamslaw 99
A Fraser 99
M Walker 99
A Samuel 02
M Williamson 02
G Brown 01
B Muncaster 01
R Darge 00
#nextgenxv
Forbes, Savala, Sykes and Boyle are also in that age group. I would expect Harrison and Gamble to step up at Edinburgh. Add in already committed exiles Redpath, Ashman, Henderson, Christie and Richardson and we are only a good loose head (Whitcombe of Leicester?) and a back up 9 away from a full Scotland squad in that age group.
Great news, looking forwards to seeing what these guys can do. Been impressed by Samuel lately, and Williamson was one of the few positives from the U20s.