Glasgow are no match for the glamour boys' cutting edge Worrying signs for the Scottish game as both Glasgow and new Borders team struggle before season starts in earnest

Glasgow's new coach Kiwi Searancke was given a clear indication of the scale of the task he faces as London's glamour boys eased their way to a comfortable win in last night's pre-season friendly at Hughenden.

Taking into account the fact that Harlequins long-term presence in the English Premiership's relegation zone last season was reckoned to be one of the main reasons that the English Rugby Union re-wrote their rule book, to ensure that they would not drop out of the elite, Glasgow have much improving to do if they are to make any more of an impression in Europe this season.

''There's a lot we've got to work on,'' said Searancke. ''We turned over too much ball, but I was at the Borders game earlier today and that seems to be a problem in Scottish rugby. I counted 10 errors, only one of them forced in the first 35 minutes. I would expect that number over an entire game and even then it would be too high.''

He managed to find some encouraging aspects to his side's play, albeit with reservations.

''I think we have talent, we looked dangerous when we get the ball wide,'' he reckoned. ''Our defensive alignment also got better in the second half and having spent 60% of the game on defence, I can take a positive out of that negative because we did not concede more tries.''

What was a competitive but messy opening period saw Glasgow pinned in their own half despite earning a fair share of ball. Their attempts to get things moving forwards were horribly laboured as exemplified by their best effort close to the end of the half, when good driving play by the forwards saw the ball shifted through a dozen pairs of hands in moving little more than 20 metres forward before Andy Henderson handed the ball to Will Greenwood, Harlequins Lions centre.

While by no means getting through the home defence at will, the Londoners always looked to have the greater cutting edge and were always on top after Nathan Williams was put clean through as he ran onto a pass when the ball emerged from a close range maul with just five minutes to go.

Indeed, it was to Glasgow's credit that there was only one further score before the break, given how much time they spent in and around their own 22 and it took a delightfully piece of skill from Tony Diprose, straight out of the Simon Taylor handbook, as he flicked a pass behind his back, to create the overlap which allowed scrum-half Matthew Powell to scamper in.

Perhaps the most promising aspects for Glasgow were that their new boys were looking as comfortable as anyone in their new environment, Stuart Moffat cutting a reassuringly powerful figure at full-back, reminiscent of his fellow Cambridge blue Gavin Hastings, while Rory McKay and Ben Daly were both highly industrious around the field.

The second half followed a similar pattern, Harlequins still dominating territorially while struggling to break Glasgow down, before they resorted to that tried and tested English practice of the rolling maul, working over the line for Ace Tiatia, their Samoan international flanker, to touch down.

Moments later, skipper Andy Nicol's last act of the game resulted in a try for the opposition as his kick was fielded by Nathan Williams, who beat four men as he counter-attacked before having the vision, on reaching halfway, to slot a neat kick in behind the Glasgow defence for Matt Moore to race onto, beating the gallant cover effort by Nathan Ross.

The embarrassing prospect of neither of the two Scottish sides in action on this opening day of pre-season action managing to score a point, was killed off soon after when Jason White powered his way over from a close range ruck for his side's only try.

Glasgow S Moffat; J Steel, A Bulloch,

A Henderson, I McInroy; C Howarth, A Nicol capt; C Blades, B Daly, L Harrison, N Ross, A Hall, R McKay, D Macfadyen, J Petrie. Subs used G Bulloch, A Kelly, J White,

G Simpson, G Beveridge, T Hayes, R Seib,

G Sykes, G Scott, A Wilson

Harlequins N Williams; R Jewell, U Monye, C Bell, W Greenwood, M Moore; P Burke,

M Powell; B Starr, K Wood, L Gomez,

K Rudzki, S Miall, D Griffin, L Sherriff,

T Diprose. Subs used R Jewell, D Slemen,

S Bemand, J Leonard, A Tiatia, B Davison,

J Evans, K Horstmann

Referee J Hogg (Hawick)

Scoring sequence (Glasgow first) 0-7, 0-14 (half-time), 0-21, 0-26, 7-26

Scorers. Glasgow. Try White (64) Con Hayes (64).

Harlequins. Tries Williams (5), Powell (23), Tiatia (56), Moore (60) Cons Burke (5, 23), Slemen (56)