Danny Wilson’s debut as Glasgow coach ended in disappointment as his team went down 30-15 to Edinburgh, but the new man was still encouraged by some aspects of the game, not least the promising performance of Huw Jones in his untried position of full-back.
The Warriors appeared to be in command of the game at the break, even if they only had a two-point lead to show for their dominance at that point. But they fell of the pace in the second half as Edinburgh’s relentlessness wore them down, leaving Wilson to reflect on some failings to address before the teams meet again on Friday.
“I think there was a couple of areas we’ll look back and be frustrated with,” he said. “First of all, it was a scrappy old game, wasn’t it, from the two sides, which you’d probably anticipate in the first hit out.
“We failed to really build any pressure in phases – I think a lot of that was breakdown work in that Edinburgh’s defensive breakdown was pretty accurate, our attacking breakdown got on the wrong side of the referee and we gave a few penalties away there. That stalled our momentum a little bit.
“And then two soft tries – that’s how I look at it. That’s two tries that we shouldn’t be conceding, and they resulted from not getting out our own third, really, if you look at both of them. There’s a turnover there and then there’s a kick that stays on the field, and it leaves us in a really difficult defensive position.
“That’s the difference – two soft tries. Yeah, a little bit frustrating.”
While Glasgow’s hopes of reaching the PRO14 play-offs have now gone, Wilson will combine the inclination to experiment with a desire to get the better of his rivals in the fourth and final derby of the season this week.
“It’s a derby, so we give that the full respect a derby deserves,” he continued. “If there’s supporters in at that game as well, then that’s another reason for us to give it all the respect it deserves. At the same time, for me and the coaching group, we’ll get a chance to look at other combination, maybe. It’s trying to balance that and trying to win a game at the same time.
“Today was my first look at some combinations while coaching the team, and next week will be the same with maybe a few others. But ultimately we want to come here and get a win first and foremost. We want to turn that result around.”
It looks likely that Jones, normally an outside centre, will get another run at 15.
“I thought there was a lot of really good stuff from Huw, but, if I’m being brutally honest, probably one or two errors,” was the coach’s verdict. “When you’re experimenting with something you’ve got to take a little bit on the chin and now was the time to do that.
“He had some really good moments in the game. He dealt with a lot of high balls, probably missed one, and maybe one kick that should have gone out. I thought on the whole he had a good performance.”
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