THE good news for Glasgow Warriors is that second-row Rob Harley and winger Ratu Tagive have been released from the Scotland squad this week and are set to play away to Ulster on Monday night.

Richie Gray is in the same boat if he shakes-off the concussion which kept him out of action last weekend. The bad news is that none of the 11 players still in the Scotland squad will be released. 

While fringe Scotland players Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Nick Grigg, George Horne and George Turner have been available for club duty during the last fortnight, all five of those players are being kept in the national camp this weekend – as are current national team front-liners Ali Price, Matt Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Zander Fagerson, Fraser Brown and Oli Kebble. 

Heading to Ulster is a big ask at the best of times, and in the context of so many players missing from an already depleted squad, plus the team trying to bounce back from a heavy defeat at home to Leinster last weekend, it is beginning to look like mission impossible. 

But Warriors attack coach Jonny Bell says that the team is buoyant about the challenge ahead and has backed the youngsters who are being thrown in at the deep end during this extraordinary season to give Ulster a run for their money. 

“It is challenging for everybody but exciting at the same time,” he said. “It is certainly a massive opportunity for the younger players who usually have to sit on the bench or don’t get too many opportunities. It’s a great chance for them to get a concerted period of game time and I am excited about that.  

“We have a lot of young backs coming through – like Paddy Kelly – who have been training really well and causing the international boys a lot of problems. 

“We’ve just to keep working hard and be a bit more accurate and take more of our chances. The difference against Leinster was they took four of theirs and scored four tries. We had more opportunities but only came away with three tries.  My job is to keep challenging the guys to get better in their skill levels.” 

Bell might be the newest face on the Warriors coaching panel – having joined the club from Gloucester over the summer – but he has a fair idea of what the team are heading into having played for and initially cut his coaching teeth with his home-town province. 

“I’ve not been home in quite a while, but we will be going in a bubble and restricted in what we can do, so unfortunately there will be no reacquainting with family,” he explained. 

“Ravenshill, Kingspan, whatever you want to call it, is an absolutely unbelievably brilliant stadium, and they are an unbelievably well supported club, and a full capacity stadium is what every player wants to play in – so it will be weird going back and hearing echoes around the place,” he continued. “Playing rugby in empty stadiums is just not the way it is meant to be – but that is the way it has to be at the moment so everyone is trying to make the best of it. 

“We’re going out to win every game but unfortunately that doesn’t happen all the time, so we are going to show confidence in this group and show that we believe in them as they go to Belfast to take on a very, very good side who probably don’t lose as many players [to the international window],” he added. 

“Ulster are probably going to be licking their lips a little bit and getting excited about playing us, but do you know what? Our young lads have got no fear. We’ve got the likes of young Hamish Bain who has come in this season and played his first two games of pro rugby and managed virtually 80 minutes both times – and he’s just going to get better, all these guys are going to get better. 

“There is no quick-fix so we’ve just got to keep working hard for each other, be a little bit more accurate, and take some more of our chances.”