Gregor Townsend irked by clumsy defending as Glasgow put five tries past Connacht

"Connacht are a quality side," he said. "They played a lot of good rugby and seemed to know which rucks to go into and which not to go into so they were spreading out across the field to stop us. They attacked well but that was probably the poorest we have defended for a long time. Credit to them for the way they took advantage.

"We are delighted to get a bonus-point win. The defence did create a couple of tries with a charge down and an interception at the end, so there were positives in it.

"When you have the wind behind you know you have to go in at half-time converting some of the pressure you have and we did not do that as well as we would have liked. We had a couple of penalties close to their line and thought we might have got a yellow card but it did not work out. Even so we went in 17-7 up and managed to win the second half as well. We were happy with that."

It had been tough from the start for Glasgow, despite creating most of the first-half pressure thanks to the stiff wind behind them. However, they found the Connacht defence hard to break down no matter how many half chances and breaks they managed.

The home players realised that it was going to be a night of hard work, so when they did get kickable penalties they turned them down to go on a try hunt instead. They got there in the end, manufacturing a scrum in the middle of the pitch and splitting the backs before Stuart Hogg, the full-back, was sent racing in with a direct feed from Adam Ashe from the No.8 berth.

It would not be Glasgow if they made things easy for themselves, though. A missed tackle allowed Jack Carty, the visiting fly-half to break into their half and, when he found space to weave a kick past the on-rushing defence, the Warriors managed to get in each other's way and allowed Dave McSharry, the Connacht centre, to score.

A penalty from Duncan Weir nudged Glasgow back into the lead, but it took a stroke of fortune to really overcome their defensive clumsiness. Henry Pyrgos, the scrum-half, was up quickly to charge down an attempted clearance from Darragh Leader, the visiting full-back, and restore the 10-point lead on the stroke of half-time.

During the week, Townsend noted that Connacht had not conceded a point after the break in their last two matches and, with the wind behind the Irish side, it was a safe bet that the talk in the home changing room was about tightening up the defence as much as cutting out the mistakes.

To begin with it seemed to have worked as the Warriors squeezed any attacking intent out of the visitors and, when they did get the ball, worked it wide where James Downey and Mark Bennet produced a piece of handling magic to put Hogg in for his second score.

What followed was basically a game of keep-ball with the two teams taking turn about at hanging on to it until they could work a try. Connacht again pulled the score back with a touchdown reminiscent of Glasgow's opener as they rejected kickable penalties to keep the pressure on until the defence cracked, with Leader sent clear on the outside to force his way over.

That swung the possession pendulum back in Glasgow's favour, DTH van der Merwe cutting in on a perfect scissors move to catch the defence looking the wrong way and score, with a penalty from Weir pushing them further ahead.

The Connacht response was as predictable as it was fearsome - the scrum destroying their opposition on the Glasgow line to win a penalty try. However, Glasgow again hit back with Mark Bennett, the centre, intercepting in his own 22 to race the 80-odd yards to the try line. That meant the game was effectively over.

What added to Townsend's pleasure was the sight of Ashe and Downey making their first starts for the club, while Al Kellock, Tom Ryder and Finn Russell all got through their first game since returning to fitness.