It was an encounter in the grand tradition of a century and more of cross-border battles and the outcome was consequently all but inevitable on English soil as Glasgow Warriors tried everything they knew to out-fox their opponents but were ultimately over-powered by the reigning Premiership champions.

They may have won on their previous visit to Sandy Park three years ago and at Leicester in the pool stages last year, but those results were very much the exceptions. That win at Exeter in 2014 was Glasgow’s first ever on English soil in the top European competition, a record corresponding with Scotland’s at Twickenham where they have won just four times in the course of their biennial visits since England’s national stadium was opened in 1909 and all too often the pattern has followed that of Saturday.

Aware that the odds are stacked against them Scottish teams have too often taken a high risk strategy and been picked off. From the off on Saturday night that was the case as Finn Russell went for too much with the kick off,and almost let opposite number Gareth Steenson in for a try as Glasgow’s first attack misfired.

Admittedly, after saving that situation himself, the Scotland stand off was one of his team’s liveliest performers on the night and he registered the penalty and, with a cross-field kick to Tommy Seymour, set up the try that gave them a 10 point early lead. However even as he and Ruaridh Jackson, man of the match when Glasgow won on that previous visit, tried everything they knew to get their side moving forward, there was a sense that they were trying to score off every sniff of possession, in stark contrast to their opponents’ relentlessly patient approach.

Afterwards it felt as if there was immediate realisation of that as Ali Price, Russell’s international half-back colleague, reflected on where it went wrong.

“It was frustrating, but you have to credit Exeter. They held on to the ball well and stopped us playing. We weren’t accurate and in the end that gave them the ball back to get back into our half and muscle up with their forwards,” he acknowledged. “They scored three tries off the back of that, but it comes down to us not being accurate.”

Nor was it as if they had not known what to expect.

“We planned for Exeter all week and knew what was coming,” Price admitted. “Their three tries were from forwards, off the back of getting into our 22. It’s our own faults and our inaccuracies. We didn’t hold the ball well enough and they’re a team that holds the ball the most in the Premiership. We didn’t play the territory well enough and they held the ball for large parts of the game.

“We’ve played teams similar to them this season. I think Exeter were just better at it. Mixed in with that there were a few mistakes and the bounce of the ball didn’t go our way at times. Things didn’t quite click for us.”

They will have to this weekend when Glasgow meet a Leinster side that beat Montpellier in a match from which both teams took bonus points, leaving the Scots at the bottom of their pool.

“We are still in it,” Price insisted.

“Everyone knows that the home games are crucial. Of course we would like to have won and taken points from the game but we’re far from out of it. It is the first round. Next week was always going to be a must-win. It’s a home game so it’s a must-win. We’re all disappointed in the result, but Leinster is a whole different game. We will look at them on Monday and go again.”

In doing so they can draw confidence from this season’s previous clash with another Irish province that has gone the distance in Europe, having thrashed Munster at Scotstoun last month.

“Munster is the closest thing we’ve put out there yet as to how we are looking to exploit teams,” Price noted. “If we can build performances off the Munster one then we will be going in the right direction and picking up wins.”