AFTER losing their last three league matches, Glasgow were not widely expected to get anything out of yesterday’s Champions Cup game against Racing 92. One of the people who did expect them to excel, however, was Gregor Townsend, and the head coach was vindicated as his team turned in a performance that he was sure ranked as their best ever in Europe.
“By a long way,” Townsend said. “It’s great for the confidence of the group that they can play against one of the best teams in Europe, French champions, play well and win.
“But it doesn’t mean we’re in the quarter-finals; we have to play the same time in a week’s time and we’re going to have to be even better. They will come knowing they probably have to win to stay in the competition. They will throw everything at us.”
This was Glasgow’s third Champions Cup win in France - Montpellier and Toulouse are the other teams they have beaten - but it could well prove to be the most significant as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Townsend certainly feels they now have the experience to make that step up from merely being contenders for a place in the last eight.
“There were a lot of young guys making the decisions,” he continued. “They made good decisions. But they’re experienced players who have now played in Test matches and big games in Europe.
“Putting that experience into a performance is excellent. The way they prepared this week, we felt really good about the team and they transferred that into the game.
“Not conceding points just before half-time was important. I felt that we merited our lead [at the break]. To score straight away in the second half was excellent: it was a well-worked try, a patient build-up, and Ali [Price] took the chance very well.
Captain Jonny Gray, whose relentless aggression was a vital ingredient of his team’s success, warned that, with three pool games still to go, his team still have an immense amount of hard work to get through if they are to qualify.
“Everyone’s absolutely delighted. It’s one of the proudest moments in the crowd’s history. The effort throughout was fantastic.
“I think it’s all about the culture at Glasgow. We prepared well, we knew how good Racing are, and we knew we’d be under the pump at times. They scored good tries as well, so we’ll need to fix that.”
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