AT THE end of a week which saw two of their key players sidelined for months, Glasgow Warriors could have done with ending their South African stint with a morale-boosting victory. Instead, they stumbled to their most error-strewn and embarrassing defeat of recent years against opponents who won only once in the whole of last season in the PRO14.
One minor consolation for the Scots was the bonus point for the four tries they eventually managed to score, but otherwise there were few saving graces. Ruaridh Jackson was probably the pick of Dave Rennie’s starting line-up, while both Ali Price and Adam Hastings made a difference when they came off the bench in the second half, but the coach was in no mood to look on the bright side, accepting that this was by some way the worst the team had played since he took over.
“Oh, absolutely. Absolutely,” he said. “It’s difficult to find the right words, to be honest. Hugely disappointing – a really flat performance. Everything that the Kings threw at us, we expected. They’ve got a fair bit of firepower out wide, we allowed them into the game early and they got confidence from that.
“A combination of really poor defence and just not working hard enough for each other put us under a lot of pressure. We didn’t look after the ball.
“Yeah. I’m disappointed. We worked so hard over the off season, and in the first three weeks we’ve been pretty clinical and been able to build pressure. But a lot of that disappeared today. It’s a harsh lesson.”
Rennie’s side are still top of PRO14 Conference A after winning their previous three games, but they will not stay there for as long if they continue to play as badly as they did in the Madibaz Stadium in Port Elizabeth. The coach had made nine changes to his starting line-up - by necessity replacing Zander Fagerson and Stuart Hogg, the two whose injuries have ruled them out for months, but also opting to rotate his squad. A large, versatile squad has been a very evident virtue of the Warriors’ in recent seasons, but this could make the coach think again.
“We can review the selection, but we believe we’ve got depth throughout the squad in multiple positions, and the expectation was that some guys got an opportunity today to step up,” he continued. “Losing at any time hurts, but hopefully we’ll learn from this. What it says for us is that regardless of who you’re playing, if you don’t front, with or without the ball, you’re going to get stung. That’s what happened to us today.
“There’s not a lot of talking going on in the changing room. There’s obviously huge disappointment.”
Rennie explained he did not think preparing for the game in the more convivial surroundings of Cape Town had caused the players to lose focus, and he was unconvinced that complacency had been an issue. Whatever the reason for it, however, Glasgow got off to a dreadfully sluggish start, conceding three tries in the first quarter.
They were then given a golden opportunity to get back in the game when the Kings had the first of three players yellow-carded, but they failed to register a single point during that 10-minute spell. Back at full strength, the home team added a penalty to make it 24-0 at the break.
Warriors showed more urgency in the second half, particularly when Price came off the bench, but they went further behind when the Kings grabbed their fourth try. That score all but put the game beyond reach, but when the visitors were again a man up they finally got off the mark through Nick Grigg. DTH van der Merwe got another three minutes later, and for a moment there was a faint prospect of a dramatic recovery.
But the Kings were able to slow the game down, and when stand-off Martin du Toit got his own second try and their fifth, any thoughts of a fightback were snuffed out.
At least Fraser Brown and Van der Merwe got the late tries to secure the bonus point, with the Canadian international’s score being his 50th try for Glasgow.
Besides that landmark for the winger, Robbie Nairn came on for his debut late in the game, while Kevin Bryce made his first appearance since rejoining the team from Edinburgh. Memorable moments for the individuals in question, no doubt, but for the team as a whole, this is one game they would happily never be reminded of again.
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