Warriors still alive and kicking in Europe, says Townsend
● Coach in bullish mood after Glasgow fall just short in their attempt to qualify for last eight in Europe with a game to spare
Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend is confident that his side can bounce back from the agony of losing 14-12 at home to Munster on Saturday and finish the job of qualification for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals at Leicester this weekend.
The Warriors were leading 12-9 with ten minutes to go before their hopes of sealing a first ever last-eight berth with a game to spare were hit by a yellow card to star full-back Stuart Hogg and a late Francis Saili try in the corner which secured the points for Munster and their progress to the knockout stage.
Leicester were later eliminated from Europe with a heavy defeat by Racing 92 in Paris and Townsend is sure that his troops have what it takes to complete the task of getting out of Pool 1 by winning at Welford Road on Saturday and being one of the best three runners-up.
“Once the guys get recovered and back in camp with us [tonight] it will be about targeting the last game before the Six Nations,” said Townsend, pictured. “We will give it everything and see what happens. We’re on 14 points now and will be second in the pool. When you look at the other pools, others can’t get to that 18-point figure.”
Exeter’s 31-19 win over Ulster last night means that the second-placed teams in Pools 4 and 5 could not overhaul Glasgow if they win at Leicester.
The picture is also looking clearer and rosier for Edinburgh in the second-tier Challenge Cup after their excellent 23-18 win at Harlequins all but guaranteed they will top Pool 5. They face Romanian minnows Timisoara Saracens in their first match at a revamped Myreside on Friday night when a win will seal a home quarter-final.
Townsend refused to place any blame on stand-off Finn Russell for opting to keep attacking the Munster line in the dying stages rather than go for a drop goal which could have snatched the win back for Glasgow. “He went back in the pocket. Going for a drop goal was one option, another was to keep playing and either force a penalty or get a try,” said the coach.
“Munster did well to get ahead and it is very hard to score against a team when you are a man down and they have great defence.”
Man-of-the-match Tim Swinson is sure Russell will be unruffled by the episode and ready to deliver when it matters this weekend. “Finn is one of the most chilled-out guys I’ve ever met,” said the Scotland lock. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything faze him. He is a fantastic guy to have around.
“He can be a little bit frustrating at times but he is brilliant to play with. It’s nice to know what he’s going to do some of the time. He is disappointed because he expects high standards of himself. We trust him to make decisions. He made the wrong one this time but it’s more a question of what can we do to be better than pointing the finger.”
Townsend said that he expects to have pretty much the same squad at his disposal for this weekend’s trip to the east Midlands, although he said there was a chance that injured scrum-half and cocaptain Henry Pyrgos could be back in the selection mix.
The biggest game of Glasgow’s season and one of the most significant in their history ended in an agonising last-gasp defeat but there was no sense of desolation in the aftermath.
Yes it was painful to lose such a closely-fought match in the last ten minutes as Francis Saili’s try followed up the body blow of Stuart Hogg’s yellow card for a high tackle. But this was no knockout blow. Glasgow are still standing and very much in the fight for a first-ever place in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup.
Coach Gregor Townsend and the players who faced the media afterwards were naturally a bit deflated by the outcome of such a highly built-up occasion but there was a tangible sense of belief that the march to European history had been merely delayed, not scuppered.
“It definitely is frustrating for the players,” said Townsend. “We as coaches are just sitting watching it but they are putting the tackles in. You put everything into a week to get a performance and then you have to reflect on a defeat.
“Just before the game the flags and the atmosphere were brilliant. It probably was the big game in Europe this weekend. We gave it a lot of effort but we know we can be better and that’s what we will have to be next week.”
The magnitude of this highstakes encounter had been well trailed but there was no real surprise that it unfolded as a tense and cagey arm wrestle between two teams who know each other so well. If the single-try scoreline suggests anything dull then it would be highly misleading as this was compelling fare from the off.
The first 40 minutes played out as a kicking duel with the Warriors doubling up – Hogg stepping in for Finn Russell and taking on his usual longrange duties, nailing one and missing another. Tyler Bleyendaal landed two penalties to Russell’s one and it was 6-6 at the break.
Glasgow enjoyed their best period at the start of the second half, with Russell striving to unlock the watertight Munster defence but having to settle for another couple of penalties to Bleyendaal’s one and a wafer-thin 12-9 lead heading into the last ten minutes.
Something had to break the almost unbearable tension and the breach in the dam came with Hogg’s yellow for a high tackle on wing Andrew Conway and Saili stormed over soon after to seal the deal for the resurgent Irish province.
Russell’s failure to go for a drop goal late on became a major talking point but Townsend was immediately looking forward with positivity to Saturday’s clash with the now eliminated Leicester and another shot at glory.
Under new coach Aaron Mauger, the Tigers were thumped by lame ducks Racing 92 at the weekend to end their hopes of progress but Townsend, pictured, is wary of a formidable challenge at their Welford Road fortress. Glasgow have enjoyed glorious results at home against English opposition, the most recent being that trouncing of Leicester at the start of the campaign, but the coach is well aware that they have fallen short on English soil to the likes of Bath and Northampton recently, accruing critical damage to their prospects in the process.
“We are a better team for those experiences,” said Townsend. “Having been through those games in those environments will help. We didn’t get over the line in those games, but we did against Racing [in Paris] this year.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge. They will be fired up from the result here. They have a new coach and they are changing the way they play. They’re playing in front of 25,000 at home. It’s the kind of game you want to be playing in. It would have been nice to beat Munster but we have to move on and find a way to win next week.
“They have a different way of defending, a different way of playing the game [to Munster], but that doesn’t make it any easier. We’ll be playing at a venue where they have an excellent home record and they pride themselves on the contact area and the setpiece. It’s a real challenge for our group, but we will be better for this experience. We will give it everything next week.”
Townsend was gracious in his praise for victors Munster and added: “It was a really heated game, competitive, played in the right spirit.”
“It would have been nice to beat Munster but we have to move on and find away to win next week. It’s going to be a huge challenge but it’s the kind of game you want to be playing in. We will give it everything”
GREGOR TOWNSEND