Glasgow tame the Cheetahs in Euro warm-up
WARRIORS head coach Dave Rennie believes his side need to be ‘better and sharper’ to beat Saracens in their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final after last night’s Pro14 success.
Although he was satisfied with the bonus-point win over Cheetahs, he accepted his team would have to take their performance up a level against the two-time Euro champions.
Rennie revealed there was now a question mark over whether first-choice fly-half Peter Horne would be fit to play at Allianz Park after hobbling off against the South Africans with a knee injury.
‘We’ll need to be better and sharper than we were tonight,’ said the Warriors head coach. ‘I was pretty happy in that we carried pretty strong, we generated quick ball and when we hung onto it we put them under pressure.
‘I was disappointed with the amount of loose kicks, especially in the second half when we gave possession back to a team who are incredibly dangerous from turnover ball and broken-field play.
‘You have to kick smart and it’s going to be important next week against Saracens; we need to be sharper around that area.
‘As for Peter Horne, he just got a bit of a knock around his knee. We took him off as a precaution. Hopefully he will be all right but I’m not sure of the extent of it at this stage.’
Rennie praised his centre pairing of Kyle Steyn and Stafford McDowall, who grabbed a try each and played themselves into possible selection for the game against Saracens.
‘Stafford has been excellent,’ said the Warriors head coach, whose side’s other tries came from Callum Gibbins, Scott Cummings and Rory Hughes. ‘He has a really good skill-set and a big work-rate and defends well. Kyle slotted in nicely beside him at 13 for us.
‘Kyle is a powerful man who carries hard and defends well. With the injuries we’ve got at centre with Nick Grigg and Huw Jones, it could well end up being Stafford and Sam Johnson in midfield, or Kyle, although he could also end up on the wing.’
Warriors will have to up their game against Saracens, but will have the likes of Stuart Hogg, Johnson and Jonny Gray — back for the trip.
The home side grabbed their first try after just five minutes from a line-out drive.
Captain Gibbins exploded off the back of it to go over. Horne added the extras.
Cheetahs struck back 10 minutes later as William Small-Smith scored in the corner.
In the 18th minute, Glasgow scored a fine team try through Steyn, with Horne again converting. He did likewise when Hughes touched down.
The South Africans started the second half the better and scored their second try via replacement hooker Joseph Dweba. Tian Schoeman put over the conversion.
Horne had to come off after 52 minutes to be replaced by Adam Hastings.
Four minutes later, Glasgow secured a bonus point with McDowall’s touchdown, converted by Hastings.
With two minutes left, Cummings scored Glasgow’s fifth try. Hastings again converted.
Cheetahs got the final try of the game when a mistake from Grant Stewart allowed SmallSmith to score in the corner.