A mountain left to climb
Home loss leaves Warriors reeling
PRO12 champions they may be, but when it comes to European competition, Glasgow Warriors continue to lag way behind the rest. For all Gregor Townsend’s talk about still having a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup, it will now take something of a miracle.
That may sound harsh after just one defeat, but the manner of Saturday night’s home loss was alarming to say the least against the weakest side in Pool Three.
If this performance in front of 6,800 frustrated fans at a sold-out Scotstoun was anything to go by, what chance is there of winning their next five European games?
Third bottom of the English Aviva Premiership after just one victory in four league matches, well as the forward battle and scoring three tries in the process.
The prospect of facing a Racing 92 side inspired by Dan Carter, with Scarlets also waiting in the wings, has just become even more daunting.
Glasgow’s big-name players simply did not turn up on Saturday and that has to be a worry for Townsend.
The team, obviously, did not play last weekend when their match with Racing was postponed following the atrocities in Paris, so this lacklustre display could certainly not be blamed on fatigue.
Stuart Hogg looked out of sorts and dropped off a tackle that led to a try.
Finn Russell missed a couple of easy penalty kicks and did not get enough ball to release his back division.
The front row was simply a disaster, with Ryan Grant spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin after constant infringements at the scrum.
It did not help that hooker Pat MacArthur went off early after being struck in the jaw, only for his replacement — Georgian international Shalva Mamukashvili — to have a nightmare.
Townsend put a brave face on things, but this was the worst possible start to the campaign with not even a losing bonus point to ease the pain.
‘To qualify from this group just got tougher and we’ve got to win four or all of our final five games, but I believe we can still qualify from our group,’ said the Warriors head coach.
‘Why do I think that? Belief in the players. I’ve seen them win big games before and they will work to improve the areas we didn’t get right against Northampton.
‘I’m confident we’ll be a better team when we play the back-toback games against the Scarlets in three weeks’ time.
‘You’re angry with the players if they haven’t put in the effort but that wasn’t the case. I firmly believed the way they were playing that we would win the game.
‘Stuart (Hogg) had a bit of bad luck at the beginning with the dropped high ball and he’s had a big week, as he became a father on Thursday. When you get a high ball that you don’t take, it affects your confidence.
‘It’s important that when someone makes an error we tidy it up and a team-mate steps in, but tonight the errors just led to a couple of tries.
‘Stuart was disappointed — and disappointed that he couldn’t finish the game as well because he picked up a little knock.
‘Ryan (Grant) picked up a quick, harsh yellow card but you do build up a picture that some of the scrums didn’t go our way in the first half.’
Glasgow never gave themselves a chance of victory, leaving a pent-up crowd with nothing to shout about.
What should have been a big occasion went flat very quickly, with George Pisi’s try after just nine minutes setting the tone.
The hosts then lost three penalties at the scrum in quick succession before French referee Pascal Gauzere lost patience and sent Grant to the sin-bin.
On the few occasions the home side attacked, they gave away cheap penalties because of handling errors or knock-ons.
It was no surprise when winger Ahsee Tuala brushed aside a poor tackle from Hogg to score.
Even Peter Horne’s touchdown for the Warriors was against the run of play, with another Myler penalty giving Northampton a 21-10 half-time lead.
The second half was a dismal affair, especially after Tuala went over for his second try just 12 minutes in.
Apart from a Josh Strauss try on the hour mark, there was no further scoring as the game drew to a predictable conclusion.