Ali: We paid Price of ill-discipline for our Euro exit
Glasgow scrum-half lays it on the line
Ali Price has accepted that Glasgow only have themselves to blame after being knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Montpellier on Friday night.
The Warriors were in the last-16 tie right to the death, but were again let down by their poor discipline and ended up with only 13 men on the field after TJ Ioane was sent off after an hour and Nick Grigg was sinbinned with five minutes to go.
The Warriors’ defence was also found wanting for both of the French club’s tries as they went down 26-21. The narrow scoreline reflected how well the visitors fought back after falling 20-9 down early in the second half, and Scotland scrum-half Price insisted it was a match they might well have won.
He said: “We didn’t win the kicking battle that we wanted to, and our discipline again wasn’t good enough. That was the difference between the teams.
“We conceded a couple of soft tries, and after that when we were getting back into the game we were giving away something else cheap. “That allowed them to keep that five to eight-point gap ahead of us. We were chasing the game a bit, but this feels like one that got away from us.”
Ioane was red-carded for a shoulder-to-head clearout, and Price said the squad had no complaints about the decision.
But he insisted that the forward, who is on loan from London Irish, should not be singled out for blame for the defeat.
“Look, TJ was obviously gutted,” he added. “No-one goes out there to get a red card. It’s something he will need to look at in terms of his technique and height.
“We speak about playing on the edge, but we were all in agreement that it was a red card.
“But it wasn’t just that. We gave away a number of penalties throughout the game. It was one of those games – both teams seemed to give away loads. “Ill-discipline has cost us throughout the season in matches. You aren’t going to go away to a French Top 14 side and win with 14 or 13 men on the field, are you? “The fact that we were in with a chance of winning at the end shows the grittiness of the group, and at times we played some good stuff. But we’re letting teams off the hook too easily.”
The Warriors now have two weeks off before they start their Rainbow Cup campaign with a game away to Benetton on the weekend of the 24th.