SCOTSTOUN HAS A KEY ROLE, SAYS ASHE
ADAM ASHE has had quite a year — and his campaign could be about to get even better after another powerful performance by the No 8 against a generous Connacht at the Sportsground. Ashe’s try 12 minutes from time — his second in sucessive games — sealed an eighth bonus-point victory of the season for Gregor Townsend’s side, who now need just one more win to clinch their second Pro12 home semi-final in a row. Last year they faltered at the final hurdle, of course, but the 21-year-old back-row is fully aware of the importance of continuing to play at Scotstoun as they seek to become the first Scottish winners of the competition. In two weeks’ time, Glasgow travel to Swansea to face fellow top-four side Ospreys, before a home game with third-placed Ulster in their final league match proper for the season. No room for slip-ups, then, says Ashe as he savours a remarkable 12 months which have seen him win five Scotland caps since making his debut for the national side last year. ‘I think we need to start the game against Ospreys with a big impact,’ he said. ‘We can’t build our way in because they are a tough team. ‘We need to be firing from the first minute, so that’s something we’ll work on in the next couple of weeks. It’s really good that we’ve already made the top four but we want that home semi-final. It’s so important.’ Despite the scoreline, Townsend wasn’t impressed with some aspects of his side’s performance. Two tries from Niko Matawalu and one each from Ashe, Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour gained victory, but the head coach criticised his ‘passive’ defence, while some ill-discipline should have cost them far more than the meagre punishment Connacht were able to dole out. Glasgow conceded 15 penalties and had Seymour and Chris Fusaro sin-binned in the second half. Townsend says that improved discipline is required if they are to go one step further this year. ‘Our discipline was poor. One yellow card was a high tackle, which was disappointing,’ he said. ‘I felt we had the numbers on the ball when Tommy Seymour got yellowcarded, we had three players on the ball but I think we just came off our feet. We were too excited that we managed to get the turnover. ‘We’ve got to bring the penalty count down, whether it’s through being offside three times or offside in defence which isn’t good enough and with a few scrum penalties early on. ‘We have to be better defensively. At times we’re a bit passive. We’ve got to make sure our discipline’s better.’ Key man Josh Strauss sparked some concern after the powerful No 8 limped out of Saturday’s game. He only lasted 18 minutes following his introduction as a second-half replacement, but was withdrawn ‘as a precaution’ with an ankle injury. Townsend said: ‘He just got a bang on his ankle. It was to protect him. He wanted to stay on but we’re at this stage of the season and we’d got the bonus point already, so it was an easy change to make for us. ‘He’s taken a couple of knocks, more on his knee, over the last few weeks so I think it’s fine. He was desperate to stay on so he would have been okay to play but it’s best to make sure he didn’t get injured.’