After a dominant performance against the Stormers, Glasgow Warriors flanker Rory Darge said the side’s blend of mental toughness and physicality was key to victory which means they will face Leinster in the semis.
Darge scored the opening try for the hosts at Scotsoun in their 36-18 win over the 2022 champions, one in which the performance was of almost level importance to progression to the next round to the back-rower.
“Obviously the result’s the important thing, but I think what’s really pleasing is we played really well, we’re right on it physically,” said Darge.
“I’m not sure what the stats were, but I felt like we were under a lot of pressure in terms of territory and penalties, and the Stormers had opportunity after opportunity in terms of line-outs in our 22, and I thought we defended really well.”
The win marked the last appearance at Scotsoun for Tom Jordan, Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter and Jack Mann.
“The guys that are going, I’m not going to start naming all of them, but to a man, basically, I believe they all add a massive amount, but that is professional sport.”
However the players will quickly turn their attention to Leinster, against whom they suffered an ignominious 52-0 loss in the Champions Cup before going down 13-5 in a game that saw Seb Stephen make his first professional appearance for the club.
“I would reference the last game we played as well against the best in the business of making you feel like you’re under pressure, and Leinster at the Aviva with young guys stepping up and playing really well, and Seb and Mackenzie, and it was the same.”
“They had countless opportunities and built pressure and built pressure and built pressure, but our resilience to go and meet them there every time was outstanding, and I think they ended up scoring off of a free kick on the scrum, quick tap and played.”
“Like I said, it’s basically all that matters is our performance, and we’ll obviously do our due diligence […] but it’s mainly on us.”
