Smith hails departing Gray's influence on Glasgow

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith has paid tribute to departing second-row Richie Gray, saying his "influence will stand us in good stead even once he has moved on".

Scotland international and Warriors centurion Gray, 35, will leave the URC champions next month to take up a new playing challenge abroad.

Smith highlighted Gray's status as a role model in the Glasgow squad and said: "We wish him all the best.

"You look at the young talent coming through and you realise how valuable it is for them to learn from Richie – he leads our ‘line-out board’ that we’ve set up to share information and prepare our set-piece for each game, and he has been great with helping our young guys come to the table with their suggestions and ideas."

After rejoining Glasgow in the summer of 2020, Gray went on to earn a recall to the Scotland set-up and reached 100 appearances for his hometown club, helping Glasgow to title success last season.

He said: "When I first came through, we were still playing out at Firhill in front of a couple of thousand people, so it's such a proud feeling to see where this club is now.

"To see how everyone has pulled together in the last few years and really grown the club to where we are today shows that we're in a great place."

He also hailed Glasgow's latest batch of second-row forwards and called them "the future" for both the Warriors and Scotland.

“I’m really excited to see how the young guys in the second-row develop. Scott [Cummings]'s development in recent years – both on the field and around the club – has been outstanding, and young Max [Williamson] and Alex [Samuel] are such an exciting duo for both Glasgow and Scotland.

“The two of them were just starting out in the academy when I first came back, and now you look at them and know they'll be the future of the second-row."