Down but Hogg not giving up
Stuart HOGG remains an eternal optimist. the Glasgow Warriors full-back has to be to believe that, after two consecutive European Champions Cup defeats, his team can still qualify from their group.
Head coach Dave rennie hinted that the home defeat to Leinster means their chances of making it into the knockout stages have already gone.
the Irish side and Exeter, who have also opened with two victories, are now strong favourites to make it through.
Yet Hogg, who made his comeback from injury on Saturday after missing the start of the season due to shoulder surgery, is refusing to throw in the towel
‘Yes, it will be hard to qualify now, but Bath qualified out of our pool a couple of years ago after losing their first two games,’ said the Scotland international. ‘We need a lot to go our way, but we’ve got the boys who are more than capable of doing it. It’s all in our hands.
‘We’re just two games in. We still have a chance of making it. We’re not going down without a fight.’
For Glasgow to have a chance of qualification, they will have to beat Vern Cotter’s Montpellier back to back just before Christmas.
then, in the New Year, they will have to see off Leinster in Dublin then Exeter Chiefs, who they lost to in their opening game, in their final Pool 3 match at Scotstoun.
It’s mission improbable but there is no doubt the Glasgow back division can run in the tries to make an unlikely qualification happen, especially with the British and Irish Lions star back to full fitness.
Hogg touched down on 17 minutes and also helped set up tommy Seymour for a try nine minutes after the break with a superb delayed pass.
But, as he tired, so did the rest of his team — especially the forwards — which allowed Leinster to ease away in the second half.
the lack of physicality in the Glasgow pack is a major worry as they capitulated against Leinster just as they did against Exeter at Sandy Park the previous week.
two touchdowns from Leinster prop Cian Healy — one on 25 minutes, the other a minute before half-time — came from forward drives. the others were scored by man of the match Johnny Sexton on 46 minutes and Noel reid, who secured the bonus-point try five minutes from time.
Leinster’s front three of Healy, Sean Cronin and tadhg Furlong are all experienced Irish internationals. the Glasgow trio of Jamie Bhatti, Zander Fagerson and George turner are still learning their trade.
and it showed, with the Irish outfit bossing the scrum and using their physicality to win penalties at the set-piece.
‘If you look at our front row, I think they’re all under 25,’ said Hogg. ‘they are a young and fairly inexperienced front row.
‘they’ll have to learn, but we’ve got the boys there to make sure we will be good. It all starts up there.
‘If we can get a good platform to play off, we have backs that can do damage. Everybody wants to play on the front foot and we did that at times and showed we were dangerous, but the majority of time that wasn’t the case.
‘those boys have a job to do up front and the backs have got a job to do out wide, but we didn’t tie both pieces together at times.
‘It’s disappointing that we didn’t take every chance that we got. We coughed up a few balls and our defence wasn’t squeaky clean. a couple of their tries were soft.
‘Personally, I’m delighted to be back but there’s still a hell of a lot to work on. I started the game not too badly, but there were a few mistakes in the second half that really cost us.’
the lack of physicality in the Glasgow pack, especially the front row, is turning into a problem that rennie has to address. Even his more experienced players such as Jonny Gray were trampled upon by the rampaging Leinster pack.
that weakness at Exeter was spotted and exploited by Leinster.
‘We spent a good bit of time, the forwards in particular, dissecting what Exeter did against Glasgow and tried to do the same,’ said head coach Leo Cullen.
Cullen won’t be the last coach to try a similar tactic against Glasgow, who now turn their attention to the Pro14, where they top the table after six straight wins.
Getting back on the horse should be easy, with a home game against the Southern Kings, the whipping boys of Conference B who have yet to win a game.
‘We’ll turn our focus back on the Pro14,’ said rennie. ‘We’ll reassess things regarding Europe and whether we end up prioritising the Pro14 ahead of the Champions Cup competition in December.
‘We got outmuscled and were beaten by a better side in Leinster, so we just have to take it and move on as quickly as we can.’