That was a real hiding, says Rennie

DAVE RENNIE admitted that his Glasgow Warriors side were left ‘embarrassed’ after being battered by Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final.

Bidding to reach the semi-finals for the first time, the Warriors had no answer to a Sarries outfit who ran in seven tries in a dominant display at Allianz Park.

And Rennie was honest enough to admit afterwards that his team had simply been outclassed by the twotime European champions.

‘It was hugely disappointing,’ said the Glasgow head coach. ‘We got a hiding from a team that choked us.

‘We didn’t deal with the high ball. It is an area we have been really strong in but we didn’t deal with it.

‘Their kick-chase game was good. They kicked down our end and they forced a lot of errors. So, yeah, we’re massively disappointed.

‘Listen, Saracens are a good side. We were below-par and they pumped us. That’s what happens at this level. You are a couple of cogs off and you can get embarrassed.

‘You can’t put in a performance like that against a side like Saracens and hope to get a result.’

Stuart Hogg’s return from a shoulder injury was not enough to spark the Warriors. The Scotland full-back was wayward with a series of kicks, which summed up an error-strewn day for his team.

Rennie, though, was adamant that Hogg won’t be singled out in any post-match assessment. There were several others who didn’t do themselves justice.

‘Hoggy’s disappointed with his kicking game,’ added the head coach. ‘He kicked three out on the full and he missed touch a couple of times from penalties.

‘All those little things, they push you back. But he wasn’t alone in that regard.

‘We’ll forgive him and I imagine he’ll benefit from getting the 80 minutes under his belt.’

After Rennie had questioned some of Sarries’ gamesmanship in the build-up, their director of rugby Mark McCall aimed a thinly-veiled dig at his counterpart in his postmatch comments.

‘He’s (Rennie) had a bit to say about us this week and we haven’t said anything about them — and nor will we,’ said McCall.

‘To score 56 points in a European quarter-final says you are not a bad team. You take away the first minute and the last minute, then we did okay.’

On Owen Farrell’s late call-off due to his wife going into labour, McCall added: ‘His wife went into labour on Friday night and, at half eight this morning, he was pretty confident it would all happen, but it didn’t.

‘We had a cut-off point. He did phone me at half-past two to say: “In the next half hour”. I said: “Owen, the game starts at quarter past three!” We wish them well.’