NO CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
Rennie laments ‘lifeless’ display from Glasgow
Glasgow warriors head coach Dave Rennie admitted his side paid the price for some dreadful defending as their pitiful Champions Cup campaign continued in Dublin.
warriors were blown away by a rampant leinster side and, while they improved after trailing 34-7 at half-time, it was simply damage limitation after the interval.
Reflecting on the latest defeat in what has been a nightmare season in Europe, Rennie said: ‘we’re incredibly disappointed. It was a pretty lifeless first 40 minutes.
‘our defence has been a real strength of ours and we just lacked the connections and clarity and we got opened up softly a couple of times. an exciting team like leinster, you can’t afford to give them that sort of opportunity.
‘we probably had the best of the first 20 but they got down in our end and scored twice. overall, I’m much happier with the attitude and spirit in the second half.
‘I am disappointed because there were times when we just kicked the ball straight back to them and gave them the chance to attack us.’
Initially, warriors suggested they might make a game of it despite having nothing other than pride to play for. But their good start was undone on eight minutes as leinster flanker Jordi Murphy bagged the opening try.
Murphy found himself the centre of attention again two minutes later as referee Marius Mitrea showed him a yellow card for a professional foul on ali Price. glasgow made the most of their numerical advantage as Niko Matawalu went over on 17 minutes.
Peter Horne took the ball to the gain-line and Matawalu stood in at first receiver. Price found the Fijian, who threw a superb side step to leave three leinster men for dead.
Josh van der Flier, luke Mcgrath and Jack Conan were all conned by Matawalu’s footwork and, with a conversion from Horne, the visitors found themselves level at 7-7.
But the glasgow revival was short-lived as the home side capitalised from a good attacking lineout just three minutes later.
Devin Toner caught the ball and, from the ensuing maul, Jack Mcgrath fed Johnny sexton. The Irish fly-half then threw a brilliant reverse pass to captain Isa Nacewa, who glided through to score. sexton converted to re-establish leinster’s seven-point lead.
In the absence of stuart Hogg, Ruaridh Jackson regularly looked to initiate attacks from deep. But an ill-advised pass by the full-back to lee Jones saw the winger swallowed up by the leinster defence and Mitrea awarded a penalty against him for failing to release the ball. sexton made no mistake in making it 17-7.
glasgow’s indiscipline cost them once again on 32 minutes. From a penalty, leinster went to the corner and hooker sean Cronin barged over from the lineout maul. sexton converted as the hosts moved ever closer to a bonus point.
and they only had to wait three minutes for their fourth try as scott Fardy went over in the corner.
sexton failed to convert but the fly-half added to glasgow’s woes four minutes later as he crossed for leinster’s fifth try of the half to give them a 34-7 lead at the break.
Nacewa scored his second and his team’s sixth try in the 57th minute, which replacement Ross Byrne converted to put some real daylight between the sides.
glasgow scored a well-worked try in the 62nd minute through adam ashe, with Matawalu again proving the spark. Horne failed with the conversion as Rennie’s side trailed 41-12 in the final quarter.
New Zealander James lowe marked his European debut with a try in the 68th minute which Byrne again converted. But the superb Matawalu punished some slack defending from lowe three