WARRIORS LET IT SLIP
GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Gregor Townsend refused to blame the referee for his team’s disappointing 14-12 European Champions Cup defeat to Munster, and insisted: ‘The better team won.’
The Warriors led from an early Finn Russell penalty and, while pegged back by Munster every time they edged in front, they led 12-9 heading into the final 10 minutes. However, full-back Stuart Hogg was then yellowcarded for a high tackle — worthy of a penalty yes, but a caution seemed harsh — and Munster took full advantage with Francis Saili scoring the game’s only try. Townsend said: ‘It was a fair call. I thought the referee had an excellent game. He communicated really well with both sets of players. ‘That was a very passionate and competitive affair, so to be refereeing with such control is a credit to him.
‘Our players are hugely disappointed because they put a lot of effort into the game. We knew just how important this game was for us and for the club as a whole, so to lose it in the last seven or eight minutes is so much more disappointing.
‘But the better team won. At times we played well, especially at the beginning of the second half, but on a few occasions we simply weren’t at our best.
‘They’ve got a very good defence and we had to find other ways of creating quick ball which we did in the second half. ‘There was an upturn of pace. We were shifting the ball
more and got a few more tackle breaks and line breaks.
‘But the difference between the teams was what happened between the 22s.
‘For their try, they worked really well and on two or three occasions, when we got in their 22, they defended better than we attacked.’
Townsend still believes that Glasgow can qualify for the quarter-finals in his final season in charge by winning their final pool match at Leicester next Saturday.
‘We’ll have to play better, but we always knew that we’d have to win next week even if we’d won today,’ he said.
‘I still believe a win will get us into the quarterfinals, but that will become clear in the next few days.
‘I believe in this squad. I know we can play better. We just have to take our game up another 10-20 per cent next week.’
As for Munster, director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said: ‘Maybe now teams in this pool will take us more seriously. We thought all teams were daunting but we always thought (qualification) was possible.’
Meanwhile, Racing 92 picked up their first win of their Champions Cup campaign with a 34-3 win over Leicester in Paris.
The result means that Warriors are now guaranteed second place in the pool going into their final match with the Tigers.