IN the PRO12, Glasgow can play below their best for large swathes of the game yet still emerge on top, such is their attacking prowess. In European competition, as was shown on Saturday night at Scotstoun, anything below top form is almost certain to be severely punished.

There was a stage in the second half of this Champions Cup match against Northampton when it looked like the Warriors might just pull off a remarkable victory. But a combination of their own shortcomings and the Saints’ defensive resilience ensured that, in the end, they did not even emerge with a losing bonus point.

With five games still to play in Pool 3, nothing has been determined arithmetically by this result - indeed, if they win all five of those matches with bonus points, Glasgow will go through to the quarter-finals as group winners. But those hypothetical grounds for optimism are counterbalanced by a stronger possibility: if they play as ineffectually up front as they did against Northampton, they will be lucky to emerge with one or two wins, never mind five.

At least time is on Gregor Townsend’s side. There are two league games to go before next month’s double-header against the Scarlets, and the return against the Saints and the home and away fixtures with Racing 92 are not until January. By then, the Warriors could have played their way back into form.

“This is really our first game of the season and it hasn't gone well,” the head coach said. “The first game during the World Cup we started slowly and we played much better in the second half. After that we built a better game. That's the important thing now for the next few weeks.

“We have two games before we play Scarlets, and that will be a reasonably good test of our set piece, which is what we want. I'm sure there will be a lot of scrum and lineout work this week in training, and Treviso at the weekend will be a good marker of whether we have improved from Northampton.

“I thought it was flat in the first half. I was pleased with how we played in the second half. We won penalty after penalty by moving the ball. We showed a lot of effort.

“We know there are areas we need to improve. Northampton, like Racing, are a massive set-piece team. We have to take that strength away for us to win games against them.

“It's the first time this season that that team has played. I was okay with how we played after the initial set back. We got better and better and I’m confident we'll be a better team when we play the back-to-back games in three weeks' time.”

The trouble began for Glasgow after Stuart Hogg failed to gather a Garryowen deep inside his own 22 and George Pisi gathered to score under the posts. The full-back was also at fault later in the first half when he slid off an attempted tackle on Ah See Tuala, allowing the winger to score his team’s second try.

With Stephen Myler converting one and adding three penalties, that made the half-time score 21-10 to the visitors. A Finn Russell penalty had opened the scoring, and the stand-off also converted a Peter Horne try.

Tuala seized the first score of the second half after winning a race for a grubber kick behind the defence, but Glasgow then enjoyed their best spell of the match, and Josh Strauss narrowed the deficit with his team’s second try. That score was unconverted, however, and, despite continued pressure, further attacks were thwarted by a composed and well-drilled Northampton defence.

While a run of games together may well help the Warriors to iron out some of their failings in the scrum and lineout, one significant concern for Townsend was the injury which forced Pat MacArthur to leave the field early in the first half. Shalma Mamukashvili came on to make his debut at hooker and acquitted himself reasonably well, but the team is already short of cover in the position. The result of an x-ray on MacArthur’s jaw will be eagerly awaited.

“We've already had three hookers out for a few months, and for Pat to go off early in the game - he's the leader of the scrum at hooker - was tough,” the coach added. “Pat whacked his jaw on Monday at training. The x-ray was clear and then he got whacked on the same bit.

“It was bad luck: one of those nights when from the beginning it didn't go our way.

Fingers crossed it’s not broken. He's going off for an x-ray. We've got a couple of academy players that we can bring in.”

You would hope that a better solution could be found. Glasgow’s problems up front are bad enough without pitching novices into the fray at this level.

GLASGOW: Tries: Horne, Strauss. Con: Russell. Pen: Russell

NORTHAMPTON: Tries: Pisi, Tuala 2. Con: Myler. Pens: Myler 3.