No second best again
Franco says not to lift off throttle Munster......... 26 Glasgow.........38
Franco Smith saluted Glasgow for silencing a hostile Thomond Park in the first 40 – only to bemoan their failure to keep it up after the restart.
The no-nonsense South African insisted improvements will have to be made if Warriors want to compete for glory in the URC playoffs at the end of the season.
This win lifts them to third in the table – ahead of Ulster on points difference – with two games of the regular campaign left.
The Scotstoun outf it must finish in the top four to secure a home tie in the play-off quarter-finals and fifth- placed Munster are now six points off the pace.
Smith said: “I’m obviously stoked about the win. It was a fantastic effort. We played some really good rugby in the first half.
“All credit to Munster, they got stuck in as we knew they would and we made it tough for ourselves. There are a lot of learnings to take from this game.
“We need to look at how we manage the position we had got ourselves into better in the second half.
“Confidence is something you build and create through hard work – and we have worked hard. But we’re not the finished product, not by a long way, so we’ll keep working on it.”
Warriors led thanks to Fraser Brown’s fifth-minute try and had the bonus point bagged by half-time thanks to scores from Stafford McDowall, Domingo Miotti and Cole Forbes.
The last of those was a beauty after a free-flowing passage of rugby with a series of dazzling offloads.
A Miotti drop goal kept the scoreboard ticking over after the break, only for Munster to battle back.
Gavin Coombes grabbed his 13th try of the season and Craig Casey scampered over three minutes later.
A powerful finish from Sione Vailanu brief ly put Warriors back on the front foot but Munster wouldn’t lie down as tries from Josh Wycherley and Calvin Nash in the final 10 minutes gave them a bonus point.
Next up for Warriors are the Dragons on Friday in the Challenge Cup last 16.