Johnny Matthews was the focus of a standing ovation as he left the field after 47 minutes of Saturday night’s 73-33 victory for Glasgow Warriors over the Dragons, with the hooker the toast of Scotstoun after becoming the first player to score five tries for the club in any competitive match.
He revealed afterwards that his team-mates were not quite so fulsome in their admiration for his contribution to Warriors’ highest points tally in a single game – but he was able to absorb the ribbing as the light-hearted banter it was intended to be.
After all, the hooker was first to acknowledge that four of his five tries were the product of the efforts of those same team-mates, who have worked hard together to hone their line-out maul into a powerful attacking weapon which creates tries both directly and through sucking in defenders to open up opportunities out wide.
“I’m getting absolutely rinsed by the boys, and deservedly so,” joked Matthews shortly after the final whistle. “The big guys up front do all the hard work and I’ve got the easy job of sitting behind Sione Vailanu in the maul then putting the ball down.
“The backs are also joining in these mauls to add their weight, so it is great to see as a real team effort.
“We do a lot of work on it, and you can see the value of that with the number of tries we are scoring through our maul.
“Every time we get five metres out, we know we are in a position to score, so long as we execute the line-out like we did tonight.
“We saw some variety as well with the way we peeled round the front [for the first of captain Kyle Steyn’s two tries]. The way our maul is going now, teams have to commit to it, and we’ve got players like that who can pick teams apart off the back of it regardless of whether we go round the front or round the back.”
The hooker has now scored 11 tries in 13 appearances for Warriors in the 2022-23 campaign, and he was top scorer for the club last season as well with nine in 19 appearances.
He was also a prolific scorer before moving into the professional ranks, claiming an impressive 19 tries for Boroughmuir in the 2018-19 Premiership campaign.
“I’ve scored three tries in a game a few times, back down in England, and I think I’ve done it for Boroughmuir as well once,” said the 29-year-old Scotland A cap, who is originally from Liverpool and qualifies to wear the thistle through his Glaswegian mother. “Five is my joint highest. I did it once before for Sedgley Park against Luctonians [in National League 2 North back in October 2016].”
While the majority of his tries this season have been off the back of Warriors’ formidable line-out maul, he points out that he can also do some damage in open play. The second of his quintet on Saturday was a beauty, featuring two pieces of individual brilliance from himself and fellow front-rower Allan Dell.
The pair showed the sort of pace which a winger would be proud of when running home an excellent try from halfway.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, to be honest, and I don’t know how I got there,” he joked. “I don’t know if it is the best try I’ve ever scored – but it’s right up there. The one against Perpignan away in January was pretty good, but it’s definitely my best try tonight!”
This victory booked Glasgow a home draw against Lions in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup on Saturday. The South Africans came out on top when the two sides met in the URC at the end of February, and Matthews believes that set-back – the only defeat Warriors have suffered in 14 matches since the end of November – will spur the team on in preparation for the re-match.
“Watching that game back, we definitely had opportunities to score which we didn’t take,” he said. “So, I think we’ll get the bit between our teeth this week and iron out a few issues we might be having ahead of going against them next week.”
Despite the number of points scored and margin of victory, it was far from a complete performance from Warriors against Dragons.
Some weak defence meant they conceded five tries, including three against 14 men after the red-carding of visiting prop Aki Seiuli for a flying head-but on George Horne on 32 minutes.
“He’s not the happiest,” admitted Matthews, when asked about head coach Franco Smith’s post-match mood.
Warriors will hope that the knee injury sustained by Vailanu – one of their form players this season – does not rule the back-rower out for long, but Smith did not sound too optimistic.
“He came down hard on his knee,” said the coach. “We’ll assess it fully during the week.”
