How Finn Russell face-off has shown Glasgow Warriors youngster what it takes to reach the top

Glasgow Warriors fly-half Matthew Urwin enjoyed facing off against Scotland star Finn Russell when his side faced Bath in their pre-season friendly clash at Old Anniesland.

The 21-year-old started for the hosts with the British & Irish Lion as his opposite number for the visitors. Russell is a player that the Warriors’ academy graduate has looked up to for a long time and now aims to try and emulate.

He felt the experience of playing against the former Scotstoun favourite gave him a first hand look at the ‘level’ it is going to take to fulfil his own ambitions and to give Warriors the best chance at success. “He’s someone I looked up to pretty much all the way through,” said Urwin.

“He’s got so much good stuff to his game. He’s definitely someone I looked up to and tried to take a lot of stuff from.

“It was pretty cool, he’s someone you look up to and then you get to play against him. It’s about looking at that and seeing the level it’s going to take.

“Getting experience against guys like him is really important for me and some of the other academy boys. As Franco [Smith] said, it’s about seeing what it takes against these top sides so that, when you’re put into those games in the future, you know what it’s going to take to get it done.”

“I thought some of the stuff in the first half was positive,” added Urwin. “There were probably just a couple of easy tries that we let in, which was a bit disappointing, but there was some good stuff in there as well.”

The stand-off is just one of a large group of young players who are breaking through in the first team at Scotstoun. The likes of centre Johnny Ventisei and lock Dan Halkon are just some who have seen plenty of minutes in pre-season and could very well have earned their shot at regular game time when the new URC season starts away to Munster next weekend.

Urwin says there is a tight bond between the large group of players who have all come through around the same time and that they have enjoyed pre-season with the more experienced international players only recently returning after their break. He added: “It’s been really good.

“There were a couple of weeks with just the academy boys and the non-internationals. I thought that was really good.

“We were putting in a lot of metres, a lot of graft, and there was a lot of good stuff. Then, with the internationals coming back in, it’s probably raised the level of training again. It’s been really good.

“I think we [academy graduates] are really tight-knit. A lot of us have been together for probably three or four years.

“We’ve known each other from before that as well, having come through the pathways. It’s a really good group because we’ve been together for a while.”