Toothless Glasgow get early opportunity to rediscover their bite

Last night, though, Glasgow's hackles were raised by something and it may well have been in anticipation of a complaint from Munster, as the Warriors released a statement saying: "We believe a dangerous act of foul play was committed by a Munster player against Niko Matawalu during last night's game at Scotstoun."

They have written to the match citing commissioner to draw his attention to the alleged incident. That aside, the most obvious consequence of Glasgow's 13-6 loss was that they surrendered their lead at the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table.

There was rancour between the two teams as they made their way to the tunnel at the end, but the bitterest pill for Glasgow to swallow was the realisation they lost to a decidedly ordinary side.

Yes, there was something of the old Munster dog about the visitors, but little of the old Munster quality. JJ Hanrahan, the fly-half who scored all their points, looks a decent prospect and Donncha O'Callaghan showed glimpses of his legendary stroppiness, but Glasgow have beaten much better teams in recent times.

And yet Munster made the most of their limitations, while Glasgow squandered their advantages. And nowhere were the home side more feckless than in their loss of composure in the second half, when the absence of Al Kellock's steadying influence was most keenly felt.

Chris Cusiter had taken over the captaincy for the evening, in itself a questionable choice, as Cusiter has had only limited game time this season. But it also raised questions of leadership at the point when, as expected, Matawalu came on to replace Cusiter at scrum-half.

That moment arrived in the 55th minute. Ten swift points by Hanrahan had levered Munster into the lead earlier in the second half and Glasgow needed some spark. Matawalu can usually be relied upon to provide that, but the best of him is only seen when there is also a firm hand around to curb his excesses. There was a powerful impression Glasgow did not have one.

However, they are only one point behind Munster in the PRO12 table, are sitting comfortably enough in their Heineken Cup group, and have a squad of sufficient depth to accommodate its inevitable weakening during international windows.

That should offer coach Gregor Townsend some comfort as he looks to the weeks and months ahead, but his expression was stuck in grim mode as he reflected on Friday's defeat. "We know we didn't play our best," he said. "I thought we were building towards our best, but a couple of mistakes in the second half put us on the back foot.

"It is a setback, but it has been a really good season. It didn't go our way tonight, but I was really proud of the guys' efforts, especially at the end. We came close to getting a draw. There will be a real resolve in training this week to make sure we go to Connacht and play much better."

A dreich night in Galway would probably not be Townsend's location of choice for getting the Glasgow ship back on course. But on a weekend when Munster and co-leaders Ospreys go head-to-head in Limerick, taking on the league's lowest-placed side must be seen as an opportunity. So, too, Edinburgh's home clash with Zebre. At times, the capital side's season has looked more like a rehab programme than anything else, but there have been distinct signs of recovery in the past few weeks.

They backed up their Heineken Cup win against Munster with a fine first half against Perpignan (albeit one that gave way to an alarmingly bad second half) and, after Friday's PRO12 victory over Treviso, would nudge themselves into a position of mid-table respectability if they can add another Italian scalp.

Of course, there is more than respectability on offer. It is virtually inevitable now that whatever shape or form European competition takes next season, involvement will decided, at least in part, by league position.