Minus their Scotland stars, still resting after the summer tour to the South Pacific, Glasgow Warriors delivered a mixed performance as they went down 49-27 to Sale Sharks at Heywood Road in their first official warm-up match for the new season.

Despite flashes of brilliance, they flagged badly at the finish, conceding four tries to the English side in the final quarter. Losing the overall try-count 7-3, Glasgow's touchdowns came from Peter Murchie, Tommy Seymour and Peter Horne.

"It was disappointing to lose," said head coach Gregor Townsend. "There are a lot of things to work on, but I was pleased with some individual performances today. You could see the rust coming off as the game wore on. I expect our Scotland players will come back into contention for our match against Exeter at Ayr on Thursday."