Rugby: Expectations even greater after Lyon victory, says Blair
THERE can sometimes be no better opportunity for coaches to flag up failings than on the back of a fine win and the Glasgow Warriors management duly appears to have seized its chance following last weekend’s impressive victory in Lyon.
Prior to Dave Rennie’s arrival as their head coach, an away win against a team contending for a place in the Top-14 play-offs could have been considered an achievement in itself. However, the rise in expectations has been outlined by Mike Blair, the club’s assistant coach.
“We’re really pleased with the result against Lyon, but we’ve probably been quite tough on the players on some of the performance aspects. So, we’re aware that there’s stuff to work on,” he said.
“We looked at the time in the game when we gave the penalties away and we piggy-backed penalties. We gave them opportunities where, for example, we were on their line and we gave away a soft penalty. So we went from a situation where we were right on top of them to suddenly having a lineout just outside our 22.
“So, that’s an area that we’ve got to stay on top of, although we have done well in that area.”
Blair knows, however, that he is being hyper-critical after a win that has put them right back in contention for qualification for the knockout stages, albeit still playing catch-up on pool leaders Saracens.
And for all that Lyon now have nothing to play for, when the French outfit become the visitors to Scotstoun next time out Blair knows they have too many highclass players to be taken lightly.
“We’re wary that sometimes French teams, when they’ve got less to play for and they’ve got more of a free spirit with the amount of quality they’ve got, can be dangerous, so we’re aware that we need to be firing on all cylinders again to get the victory,” he said.