GLASGOW coach Dave Rennie may be set to leave for Australia at the end of the season, but this is not a game which will live long in his memory after the post-match analysis is done.

There were those in Wales who felt Scotland’s early World Cup exit was a sneaky way of gaining an advantage in the Guinness Pro14, with their internationals set to return well before the Welsh. Not in Newport, though.

Only Fijian Niko Matawalu was on show for Glasgow, in difficult conditions and this certainly was not the sort of post World Cup boost they may have been hoping for.

Rennie had nothing to add to the news of his likely departure Down Under, though he did not have that much to say about the Glasgow performance either.

“We kicked poorly, did not look after the ball for long enough could not build enough pressure and lost a lot of those key battles,” he said.

“I was not happy at half time because I thought we kicked aimlessly, handed a lot of ball back to them, we never really looked like applying enough pressure to register the points ourselves.

“We made errors at key times, they profited off them and got a couple of tries and then we were chasing the game.

“[There was] a defensive error in midfield and then a charge-down.

A lot of the game was played between the 22’s, so it was disappointing.”

Glasgow started off playing into the wind and the rain, which meant trying to control possession and running with ball in hand most of the time.

They did not make much ground, but keeping the ball away from the Dragons was a victory of sorts in a first half which can best be described as ordinary.

Outside half Brandon Thomson was certainly finding the conditions – and the ball – hard to handle meaning the rare half chance was not capitalised on.

The Dragons were kicking for territory effectively, but could not mount anything meaningful themselves. Outside-half Sam Davies landed two penalties, one from in front and one from half way, to make the score 6-0 in favour of the home team at half time.

That was made worse at the start of the second half when a mis-handled kick handed the initiative to the Dragons. Wing Ashton Hewitt nearly made it to the line through the middle and flanker Taine Basham went over from the resulting ruck.

If overturning a six-point deficit with the help of the wind must

have seemed straightforward, that try changed the equation substantially.

That equation soon became advanced algebra when Thomson had a kick charged down around half way. The Dragons poured through in attack as Davies hacked forwards. However the ball bounced around the in-goal area before Hewitt was the one to get the touch for the try. Thomson was immediately replaced by Ruaridh Jackson.

It did not get worse for Glasgow, but it did not get any better either. There were half chances, the best of which came from a Matt Fagerson break, but Glasgow were unable to finish off their opportunities.

Even an apparent consolation try two minutes from the end for lock Kiran McDonald was ruled out by referee George Clancy for an illegal clear-out. Harsh, but typical of the way Glasgow’s day went.

The consolation did eventually come when replacement centre Huw Jones went over in injury time, a typically well-taken try using his support to create enough space to get over in the corner.

Scorers, Dragons – Tries: Basham, Hewitt.

Con: S Davies. Pens: S Davies 2.

Glasgow Warriors – Try: Jones.

Dragons: J Williams, O Jenkins, A Warren, J Dixon (T Morgan 75), A Hewitt, S Davies (A Robson 68), R Williams (Capt, L Baldwin 75); B Harris (J Reynolds 71), R Hibbard (R Lawrence 78), L Brown (L Fairbrother 60), J Davies (M Williams ), M Screech, H Taylor, T Basham (J Benjamin 55), O Griffiths.

Glasgow Warriors: G Bryce, K Steyn, N Grigg, S McDowall (H Jones 63), N Matawalu, B Thomson (R Jackson 49), N Frisby (J Dobie 68); O Kebble (A Allan 68), G Stewart (J Matthews 68), A Nicol (D Rae 58), R Harley (A Davidson 5-17), K McDonald, A Ashe (C Fusaro 5), C Gibbins (Capt), M Fagerson (Davidson 75).

Referee: G Clancy (IRFU).

Attendance: 3,673.