Al Kellock, the Glasgow Warriors captain, believes his side showed their true colours in Toulon yesterday afternoon as they fought back from the French side's 34-point first-half blitz to salvage a precious four-try bonus point.
The Warrriors were beaten 51-28 by the reigning Heineken Cup champions at the Stade Félix Mayol, but the bonus point is more than many sides have managed to achieve on Toulon turf and could prove critical if they are to advance to the quarter-finals. However, in praising the quality of the star-studded opposition they faced, Kellock also admitted that his players may have been intimidated by the febrile atmosphere in the Toulon stadium, where volume levels reached a point where the Warriors players were struggling to hear each others' calls.
"I think the occasion got to us as a group," Kellock said. "Maybe in the excitement and the atmosphere we forgot to do our individual tasks, whether chasing kicks or staying within our defensive system.
"If you don't slow down the Toulon attack they will cut you apart. They play great rugby. If you are not close to your best then that's what happens.
"They were incredibly difficult to play against, but that's what happens when you sit off them. At times their decision making was easy because they had so much time on the ball. They are a world class team. We said beforehand if we came out and gave our best then we would see if that was good enough to win, but in that first half we weren't even close to it."
Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow head coach, also praised the fight his players had produced after the interval, but echoed Kellock's suggestion that the surroundings had had an influence.
Townsend said: "Our goal was to show who we were in the second half. That wasn't us in the first half. If you stand off a good team like Toulon then that's what happens to you.
"We showed a lot more of what we are about. Tackles went in, we were chasing kicks and took the initiative in attack. To get a bonus point was a huge effort from the players. I'm so proud of them. With 10 minutes to go, if a couple of passes
had stuck then we could have been close to winning."
Townsend admitted that there had been harsh words in the Glasgow dressing room at half-time, but his decision to move Niko Matawalu back to scrum-half and introduce
DTH Van der Merwe on the wing for the second period was probably just as significant.
Van der Merwe collected two
of Glasgow's tries; Matawalu scored one, with the other falling to Jonny Gray.
"I challenged the players to show what they are about and show what the true Glasgow Warriors team is," said Townsend. "The guys upped their performance and the subs who came on were fantastic. That helped to put Toulon under pressure and we scored four cracking tries."
Glasgow's next Heineken Cup match will be against Exeter Chiefs at Scotstoun next Sunday afternoon. The Devon side got their tournament off to a winning start with a 44-29 home win against Cardiff Blues, but the Blues also collected a try bonus so Glasgow now sit bottom of Pool 2.
"It's going to be a huge challenge," said Townsend. "Their recent performance against Gloucester was outstanding. They had a big win today and that shows they are on form. There's no way we will think that our pre-season game against them [which Glasgow won 29-26] will be like next weekend's game."
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