It’s hard to imagine that Callum Gibbins’ go-faster mullet is going to be the new fashion statement with the Byers Road hipsters as predicted by Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie, but the Kiwi openside looks set to be a huge hit at Scotstoun.
“The fans will love Callum,” said Rennie prior to Saturday’s 31-10 win over Ospreys, and the 27-year-old went a long way to entering their hearts with his all-action Guinness PRO14 debut.
His impact in the tackle was felt all around the ground, and his constant harrying of Ospreys highly-rated Sam Davies was unquestionably a factor in the young stand-off throwing two loose passes converted into tries by Alex Dunbar and Adam Ashe.
Given that it was Gibbins’ first game since he starred for the Hurricanes in their tour match against the Lions, he was up to pace immediately a played the entire 80 minutes.
Although with some Scottish heritage – “my nan’s family were Munros” – he is also set to be around as a leader and difference maker in all of those pesky international windows where the Warriors lost their customary play-off place last year.
He’s also quickly noted that the northern hemisphere game matches one of his key strengths, defence.
“It’s fun with the ball but it’s also pretty fun when we’re getting off the line and putting pressure on them to try and throw the ball around,” he said. “I think we did pretty well there.
“There seems to be quite an emphasis on defence on this side of the world. Ospreys are pretty physical and they came at us. Those intercepts could be seen as pretty lucky but if you work on defence and put a lot of pressure on teams you find that they come more often than not.”
Gibbins was having a coffee in Wellington earlier this year when Rennie’s name – he’s known the coach for a while – popped up on caller ID on his phone.
“I thought `Dave Rennie? What the hell does he want?’,” said Gibbins. “But when he calls you pick it up.
“He asked if I wanted to come to Glasgow and it didn’t take me long to decide. It was the right time in my life, I was looking for a different experience and I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
Rennie considered the bonus point win “ideal from a coach’s point of view” because the performance was so short of what he is looking for that he can “still create an edge in training”.
“We’ve got to understand that we we got away with it today, that was a hell of lot closer than 31-10. Had they nailed a couple of opportunities then it’s an arm wrestle.
“With nine points we’re happy where we are but we’re going to have to be a lot better against Cardiff next week.”
Rennie felt Finn Russell, like the team, had a poor first 40 but picked up the pace in the second half, which the Warriors won 21-0.
“I think he kicked at appropriate times but couldn’t put it in the channels or where the space was and ended up handing it back to them and they would profit off that.
“We know is he’s a great carrier of the ball, he’s great at creating space for others, and being able to manipulate teams through a smart kicking game is an area he is developing.
“There were some nice touches today but I think he’ll be better for the 80 minutes under his belt too, certainly he was a lot better second half.”
Man of the match Alex Dunbar, a key man in defence as always and with two tries to bookend the scoring, reckons that even this bonus point perfiormance will be “a tough review”.
“For large periods of the game they were attacking and putting us under pressure, and we couldn’t really get the ball, but we back our defence, held firm and turned the ball over,” he said.
“When we can keep the ball we’ve got some very dangerous runners and it’s very difficult to get the ball off us, but although we made opportunities today we couldn’t keep the ball.”
