Former Scotland captain Ritchie set for Glasgow Warriors debut

Glasgow Warriors assistant coach Nigel Carolan says the moment has arrived to unleash former Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie in the Warriors’ lineup. The 30‑year‑old flanker, who earned 63 caps for his country, joined Glasgow from French Top 14 side Perpignan in the summer but missed the opening weeks of the United Rugby Championship because of ankle and Achilles problems.

Carolan explained that Ritchie is now back in full training and should be available for Saturday’s URC clash with Benetton in Treviso. “He’s training fully. We feel he’s integrated into the systems now very well, and he’s itching to go,” the coach said. “It would be great if we get him involved this week, either starting or on the bench. It would be really positive to have him involved, especially ahead of Scotland’s Nations Cup in a couple of weeks.”

Ritchie spent more than a decade as a mainstay of the Edinburgh side before moving to France. He signed a two‑year contract with Glasgow and relocated to Scotstoun. Carolan stressed the importance of timing, noting that the player had surgery over the summer and the club did not want to rush his return. “Obviously he had surgery over the summer so we didn’t really want to push him. He’s just moved to a new club and with all that going on, we felt the timing needed to be right,” the Irish coach said. “We could have involved him maybe last week but that was Ruwald van der Merwe’s time. So I think the time has now come to unleash Jamie Ritchie in a Glasgow Warriors shirt.”

The Warriors sit second in the URC standings after three games, trailing Edinburgh, and are favorites against bottom‑half Benetton this weekend. They finished top of the league last season but were eliminated in the semi‑finals by the Bulls. The arrivals of Ritchie and Van der Merwe, alongside the departure of Scotland back‑row Jack Dempsey, form part of Franco Smith’s summer overhaul of the squad.