HOGG DOWNED BY FOOD POISONING, REVEALS RENNIE

GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Dave Rennie revealed that talisman Stuart Hogg had to pull out of last night’s crucial Pro 14 semi-final with a severe bout of food poisoning shortly before kick-off. The Scotland full-back proved a significant loss to the home side as they were dismantled 28-13 by a Scarlets team who will now meet either Leinster or Munster in next weekend’s final in Dublin. Hogg’s name appeared on the team sheet ahead of the Warriors’ most important game of the season and he took to the field shortly before the last-four clash kicked off in front of 10,000 expectant fans at Scotstoun, but he felt too unwell to play and was replaced in the starting line-up by Ruaridh Jackson. It was a bitter blow to a Glasgow side who were later criticised by Rennie for their lacklustre performance and poor discipline after failing to recover from losing three early tries. ‘We lost Stuart Hogg to food poisoning,’ admitted Rennie (above). ‘He started spewing after lunch. He got an injection, went out and tried to run but he didn’t have anything in the tank.’ Declaring himself ‘hugely disappointed’ with his team’s performance at the end of a season when they had dominated the domestic league, particularly at home, the Kiwi said: ‘We didn’t fire too many shots in the first half. We gave away too many penalties which gave them easy exits and field positions. ‘The discipline was disappointing and our ball security was poor. We built pressure well and had them under a bit of heat but we would lose the ball in the contact. ‘We felt if we could have kept the tempo going in the second half we could stretch them and run them off their feet, but we gave them too many chances to reset and slow the game down again. We applied a lot of pressure in the last 20 minutes but It was too little, too late. ‘This is my first season here and we’ve played some good footy, they are a great bunch of men who have worked hard, but the aspiration is to win titles and we are disappointed we are not in the race next week. We will look at the areas where we can be better as we were certainly short tonight.’ It was a poor way for Finn Russell to end his Warriors career as he prepares to join Racing 92 in France this summer. ‘It’s not the way I wanted to go out but that’s sport,’ the Scotland fly-half told the BBC. ‘It’s been an amazing six years for me and I’ll take so many amazing memories from the club. ‘We just weren’t clinical enough tonight. The last few weeks have been like that. We’ve missed opportunities and not finished teams off.’