Glasgow hope to have Fagerson, Dobie and Cummings fit for Connacht quarter-final

Glasgow Warriors may be boosted by the return of three Scotland internationals for their United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Connacht at Scotstoun on Friday, 29 May, though the hosts face fresh injury concerns in the backline.

Stand-off Jamie Dobie and lock Scott Cummings have both been sidelined since the Six Nations earlier this year but returned to training last week. “Jamie and Scott trained last week, so we just need to see how they react,” defence coach Scott Forrest said on Monday. “We’ll just wait and see whether they’re actually in the mix this week, or obviously if we get past this weekend, then is it going to be the week after.”

Back-rower Matt Fagerson missed Glasgow’s final regular-season fixture — an away win over Ulster that secured top spot in the URC — after feeling his groin in training. Forrest was cautiously optimistic about his availability. “That was probably a little bit more of a precaution. He just felt his groin a little bit, so again, he should be back in the mix.”

On the injury side, centre Gregor Brown is a doubt after tweaking his calf against Ulster on his return from a hamstring problem. “It was his first game back from his hamstring injury and he’s tweaked his calf against Ulster. We’ll just need to see how he reacts,” Forrest said.

Wing Huw Jones remains sidelined with a foot injury and did not train last week. “He will hopefully play again this season but whether it’s this week or semi-final, again if we get there, then we’ll just wait and see. But he’s still being led by the S&C and the medical team.”

Friday’s match will be Glasgow’s last at Scotstoun regardless of the result. Should they progress, their semi-final is scheduled for Murrayfield, and Scottish Rugby officials are in negotiations with concert organisers to make the national stadium available for a potential final on June 20.

“We still don’t have confirmation,” Forrest said of the Murrayfield final possibility. “If that happened, it would be great for our fans and it would be great for us, but until it’s confirmed we don’t really want to pay too much attention to it. Having been knocked out in a quarter-final of the European competition already against Toulon, we’re trying not to talk or look past this Friday night against Connacht.”