Warriors are undone again by collapse in second half

ON the back of a third successive defeat in all competitions, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Glasgow Warriors’ season is now finishing with a whimper. It’s certainly not the run of form anyone would want as they get into the business end of the campaign. Granted, they still have at least two games left; an 1872 Cup decider against rivals Edinburgh, as well as a quarter-final clash in the URC play-offs. But both of those games will be away from home and, on the evidence of Saturday night’s capitulation in Lyon, there is nothing to inspire a sense of confidence. Glasgow led 27-13 early in the second half against the French side before conceding 22 unanswered points over the final half-hour. It was the latest implosion away from home, which has come to define their season. Once Lyon began to turn the tide, there was a sense of inevitability to it all. It has now happened once too often. It started against Exeter Chiefs in the Champions Cup in January; Warriors led 17-14 shortly after half-time before a total meltdown saw them ship six tries in the last 30 minutes as the English side romped to a 52-17 win. Then against the Scarlets in the URC in March. Glasgow led 10-7 at half-time on that occasion — before losing the second half 28-0. It was the same story against Cardiff just a few weeks later as a 28-15 lead turned into a 32-28 defeat out of nowhere. Against the Stormers in South Africa a few weeks ago, it happened again as they lost the second half 19-0 on their way to a 32-7 defeat. That was followed by the disaster in Lyon at the weekend. That’s five games this season where Warriors have completely lost the plot. For it to happen once or twice over a season might be just about excusable. Any more than that would warrant questions being asked. But for it to happen five times over the course of just a few months is simply unacceptable. Something is fundamentally wrong for the same thing to happen time and time again. Head coach Danny Wilson praised the effort of his players in Lyon and said he was proud of them in the face of an extensive injury list which has deprived them of several key players. But Lyon were also missing a few first-team regulars. Glasgow still had more than enough experience on the pitch to see the game out. This is now becoming a mental block for Wilson’s players. They are naive in the face of adversity and lack the skills and savvy to see games out at the top level, particularly away from home. When the wheels start coming off, Glasgow simply don’t know what to do. If they get themselves into a winning position against Edinburgh in a couple of weeks, it might all just feel a little predictable in terms of what happens next.