Scott Cummings lauds Glasgow Warriors lock duo and talks injury hitch

The Scotland international made his long-awaited return in Glasgow’s triumph over Connacht in the United Rugby Championship quarter-final at Scotstoun on Friday night. 

Cummings rehabilitation from a calf injury sustained in the Six Nations took longer than expected and his absence was felt, especially in the Champions Cup exit to Toulon.

The British & Irish Lion is the Warriors’ most senior second-row and he’s instrumental in their line-out organisation. 

Cummings played for an hour in the hard-fought win over Connacht to increase his fitness levels ahead of the semi-final against the Bulls on Saturday at Murrayfield. 

“It was amazing to be back,” admitted Cummings. “It has been about 12 weeks since I last played and it was a pretty frustrating time. It was great to be back involved with the guys. I’ve missed it and it was a massive result for us. A great result against a good Connacht team.

“I was targeting (returning) a bit earlier to be honest! I was targeting three or four weeks before, so it was frustrating not to be back as early as I wanted to but you can’t do anything about that. The final run-in is the business end of the season and what you want to be back for.”

Asked how he handles setbacks, Cummings added: “I don’t know if I do handle it well. There is nothing you can do about it. I’ve been injured a number of times in my career and you just get used to it. I just sit back and do all I can do to get back as quick as I can but also help the team. I try to keep myself involved in what I can do.

“It’s never easy being out. When I first did it, I hoped it would be eight weeks but it ended up being a bit longer. It never gets easier but it’s just one of those things that you need to deal with.”

Alex Samuel has stepped up magnificently in Cummings’ absence with the 23-year-old in the best form of his career. 

The towering lock deserves to be named in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad for the Nations Championship this summer and Cummings lavished praise on his fellow second-row. 

On Samuel, he said: “He’s been good, hasn’t he? We've had a number of good young guys coming through in the past couple of years and it's definitely been a coming of age bit for Al.

He's a great player, he puts in some big shots, I don't know how he does it. His body doesn't look like it should be doing it but he's very physical around the pitch and a great presence in the line-out. He's stepped up in that sort of area where there's a lot of injured boys going 80 minutes pretty much every week. He's played really well and it's good to be back playing with a really quality lot like that.”

Glasgow have been decimated by injuries at lock this season with Max Williamson, Gregor Brown and Alex Craig all currently sidelined. 

That afforded more opportunities to several emerging talents including the talented Jare Oguntibeju and he was decisive in the Connacht win. 

With the game firmly in the balance and Glasgow down to 14 men, Oguntibeju embarked on an unexpected break through the Irish defence to score a pivotal try. 

It’s fair to say the 24-year-old’s running technique was unorthodox but Cummings only had praise for his teammate. 

Asked about Oguntibeju’s running style, Cummings laughed: “No comment on that. It's funny because in training we're always like ‘oh Jare stop trying things like that’ and then he comes out and creates a special moment like that that secures the win for us. 

“He's the sort of player that can do something a bit different, he's maybe not your typical player but he can create moments like that and we love him for that. It was an interesting running technique but he's probably still quicker than me anyway.”