We have summit to aim for now
ALEX SAMUEL insists Glasgow don’t care how the URC table looks... at the moment.
The lock helped Warriors briefly go to the top with a 19-9 win away to benetton on Saturday afternoon.
Leinster later regained top spot with victory at Cardiff but Samuel believes inflicting benetton’s first home defeat in more than a year gives Franco Smith’s side plenty of encouragement for the weeks ahead.
He said: “We don’t look at the table too much.
“But it was nice to go top and hopefully we can keep building towards a big play-off push in the URC and Europe.
“We hadn’t won there since 2020, so it’s been a four-year gap for us.
“It was awesome, especially with a lot of internationals away.”
Wet conditions meant the Warriors could not play their usual running game but they still had by far the better of the first half, thanks partly to benetton’s high error count.
Tries from Johnny Matthews and Stafford McDowall, plus a Ross Thompson conversion, gave the Scots a 12-0 half-time lead.
benetton hit back with three second-half penalties but Tom Jordan’s late try, converted by Duncan Weir, saw the Warriors safely over the line.
Samuel added: “It was a tough pitch. It had rained for the previous three days there, so the ball was very wet and it was very muddy.
“We had to win the game in a different way.
“When they closed to 12-9, it was just about going back to our process.
“We had talked about it all week – don’t really worry about what they’re bringing, it’s just about in defence getting in at the tackle and sticking in in attack. There wasn’t much attacking to do. It was about getting our kicking game right and taking advantage when we got chances.”