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Scotland club Glasgow Warriors reportedly have signed uncapped Kiwi speedster
By Sam Smith
The Glasgow Warriors have reportedly snapped up former New Zealand under-20 star and Crusaders fullback Josh McKay, according to a report in The Scotsman.
A Canterbury product, McKay landed with the Highlanders for his season in Super Rugby in 2018 after an impressive provincial campaign with the red and blacks the previous year.
After a lack of game time, the fullback turned wing was given a lifeline by the Crusaders for 2021, signing as an injury replacement for centre Braydon Ennor.
The 23-year-old wasn’t named in any of the five New Zealand franchise’s squads for the 2021 season after his three-year deal with the Highlanders expired in 2020.
The Scotsman is reporting he will move to Scotland at the end of the New Zealand season in October or November to link up with his new club, where the Warriors see him as a fullback option.
Since losing Stuart Hogg two years ago to European champions Exeter, the fullback role has been filled at times by centre Huw Jones as they look to fill the void left by Scotland's captain.
The addition of McKay will help the club's backline after also losing flyhalf Adam Hastings to Gloucester. McKay played flyhalf as a schoolboy before being used as a fullback winger option at higher levels, with his speed a real asset on the pitch.
He is considered one of the fastest professional rugby players in New Zealand.
“We’ve always known that we needed to add a 15 to the squad and we wanted a real attacking presence,” said Glasgow coach Danny Wilson in comments published by The Scotsman.
“Josh plays wing and 15, and he’s a really exciting runner with the ball, so he’ll suit the surface and he’ll suit the speed we want to play.”
“First and foremost, I know that part of my role is developing Scottish players for Scotland - that is the role of the two clubs as well as winning games of rugby,” acknowledged the Glasgow coach.
The addition of McKay was met with excitement by Scottish rugby fans, who understand that the uncapped utility may eventually qualify for Scotland under residency one day.
RugbyPass columnist Jamie Lyall wrote "Warriors have needed a top-class fullback in the door for a while and McKay is absolutely that."
"Classy operator, NZ under-20 cap, still 23-years-old, plays 10, wing and 15, and is absolute jets."
Looks like the info is out there folks. Josh McKay
— Alistair MacKinnon (@allstar4208) February 17, 2021
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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