GLASGOW WARRIORS have announced that Jonny Gray and Henry Pyrgos will share the captaincy for the new Pro12 season.
Scotland international lock Gray was handed the armband after Al Kellock's retirement last year and led the club to the play-offs.
However, he will be joined in the role for the 2016/17 campaign by 27-year-old scrum-half Pyrgos, who has captained Glasgow and Scotland on several occasions.
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"It’s a massive honour to have been named co-captain," Gray said to Warriors TV.
"Glasgow is a club I love and it’s where I’m from. We have a number of leaders throughout the squad and guys who have captained before, but it’s great to have Henry there with his experience and his knowledge of the game.
“He’s captained Scotland and is a great guy, so it’s an honour to share the captaincy with him."
Pyrgos led Scotland out for the 21-16 win over Japan in Tokyo earlier this summer and also captained the country against Ireland and USA this year.
He underlined that having two strong leaders in the role could only be beneficial to the squad for the upcoming campaign.
"I care a lot about this club and it’s an exciting thing for us to be co-captains," Pyrgos said.
"I think it’ll be an added bonus for the team, to help us get to where we want to go. It's going to be slightly different to what I’ve done before, but we get on really well.
“It’s great that I’m captaining with Jonny and there are a lot of other senior guys in the squad who drive standards and lead by example."
Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend praised Gray for his performance as captain last season, but believes the team will be stronger by having the responsibility shared.
He said: "We were really impressed with Jonny's development as team captain last season and we believe having co-captains will make us even stronger this year.
"It's great that we have a number of leaders throughout our squad and both captains will have a lot of support.
"The complimentary strengths of Jonny and Henry should enable us to get closer to reaching our potential."
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