Kyle Rowe ready to ‘rip into it’ with Glasgow Warriors after coming through comeback unscathed

A season lost to serious injury has left Kyle Rowe determined to seize the opportunity of a fresh start at Glasgow Warriors and the pacy winger was delighted to come through his first competitive game in 14 months unscathed.

He scored a try against Connacht at the weekend but was also culpable at the other end as the home side came back to win 34-26 in Galway. It was Rowe’s first serious outing since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on his Scotland debut against Argentina during the 2022 summer tour. Fate dealt the player a cruel blow in Salta that evening and things unravelled further when his club, London Irish, went into administration in June. Fortunately, Glasgow Warriors stepped in to sign Rowe, 25, bringing him back to the club where he was part of the academy before pursuing a pro career in England.

“It’s nice to see a load of familiar faces again,” Rowe said. “It was a pretty seamless transition for me because I’ve grown up with a lot of these boys.”

It was Rowe’s form for London Irish in 2021-22 that convinced Gregor Townsend to call him up for Argentina and the national coach also invited him to train with Scotland before they left for the World Cup in France. It readied Rowe for the season ahead and gave him the chance to remind Townsend of his qualities. “I was ready to get back into some form of training so when I got the phone call asking me to come in to train, it was great for me because I was able to come into pre-season here already fit, well conditioned,” said Rowe.

He played down talk of the Six Nations, preferring instead to concentrate on cementing his place in the Glasgow team. “It’s more about getting a good bit of game-time under my belt,” he said. “If it happens, it happens and if it doesn’t I just need to keep working hard, keep playing and keep scoring tries.”

He’s off the mark already for the Warriors and will look to continue when they host the Stormers at Scotstoun on Friday evening. For a player who thrives on tries, getting the first one was important. It was a pretty lucky try in the end but it was good to get off the mark and not have to wait a couple of games to get my first try for Glasgow,” he said. “It was my first proper competitive game back since doing my knee so it was good to get the full 80 minutes, in attack and defence. Hopefully I can feel good for this week and just rip into it, basically.”

The long road back to fitness wasn’t easy for Rowe who had been in the form of his life before suffering the injury in Argentina. He’d scored 10 tries in 23 appearances for London Irish in the season leading up to the tour only to see his Scotland debut ended after 10 minutes, followed by long months in rehab. “Of course it’s tough,” he said. “You’ll be going into training and seeing the boys. You’re part of the group but you’re not part of the group because you’re not out there training week in, week out. All you’re doing is going into the gym, doing rehab then going home. It’s obviously tough, a bit draining, a bit tedious but I got through it and I’m back now.”