The Dave Rennie era got off to a winning start as Ali Price and Lee Jones tries gave Glasgow the four points at a rain and wind battered Sportsground.

Price’s score eight minutes into the second half was reward for Warriors after their solid defensive effort into the teeth of the elements before the interval, while Jones ran in a deserved second in the closing stages to give the 2015 champions the victory.

Glasgow, who have finished third and sixth in their two seasons since they were crowned champions, were led out to a sodden Sportsground by centre Alex Dunbar to mark the occasion of his 100th cap for the side.

Their way to the pitch was flanked by drummers and bagpipers, but that was as far as the early welcome went as the home side struck in the opening minute to force the first score.

Playing into a strong wind Glasgow decided to keep ball in hand after receiving the kick-off, but a huge double tackle from Finlay Bealham and James Cannon forced Warriors to hold on the ground, and Connacht out-half Jack Carty kicked the tricky penalty for a 3-0 lead.

But it didn’t take Rennie’s side too long to gain a foothold and 10 minutes in Warriors earned their first chance to kick at goal when referee Ben Whitehouse penalised Connacht prop Denis Buckley for pull down the scrum, but amazingly Peter Horne’s kick from no more than 15 metres failed to cross the try-line, such was the strength of the wind.

An immediate accidental offside produced another scrum, which saw Buckley pinged for collapsing once more, and from the right of the posts Horne drilled his penalty through the sticks to level the scores.

Whether or not it was more to do with the horrible weather conditions, the home side seemed happier to put boot to ball and one such territorial kick from Carty put Connacht into the Warriors’ 22, and when a Glasgow boot went astray at ruck time, Carty made it 6-3 from the tee after John Muldoon’s quick tap penalty was called back.

Despite trailing, Warriors were the better team in the first quarter, but they were guilty of over complicating their play when they got near the try-line and seven minutes from the interval the home side finally blitzed the Warriors set-piece to earn a penalty, which Carty kicked to the corner, but they were unable to claim the wet ball in the line-out and Warriors reclaimed possession.

There was a knock-on from Scott Cummings in the seconds before half time, but as referee Whitehouse played advantage a penalty arrived at the breakdown and Carty’s third successful kick made it 9-3 at the interval.

Connacht struggled to get out of their own half after the restart and the pressure finally told after 46 minutes when Muldoon was penalised for hands in the ruck, but a clever quick tap from Price saw the kick moved closer when Connacht failed to retreat 10 metres, which was vital as Horne made it 9-6.

With the heat turned up on their hosts, Warriors continued to dominate, and after a knock on from Cian Kelleher they were handed prime attacking position. And after their scrum held solid on the 10-metre line, Horne cut a wonderful line and

off-loaded to Price for the opening try. Horne added the extras to give Warriors a 13-9 advantage,

Just shy of the hour mark Warriors were hit with an injury blow when Adam Hastings – who had replaced Sam Johnston early on – was stretchered from the field, and less than a minute later Carty penalised an offside infringement with a great penalty from the 22 to cut Warriors lead to a point, 13-12.

The introduction of Tom Farrell into the centre solidified things for the home team, who continued to force Glasgow into errors with ball in hand, and after a couple of quick penalties, Connacht edged their way into Warriors territory in search of the winning score. But line-out possession was difficult to attain and crucially Connacht could never build on those set-pieces and Jones’ late try gave his side a well earned win.

Scorers: Connacht: Pen: Carty (2, 19, 40, 60),

Glasgow Warriors: Try: Price (48), Jones (72). Con: Horne. Pen: Horne (12, 46),

Connacht: D Leader; C Kelleher, E Griffin (T Farrell 50), B Aki, M Healy; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham (C Carey 56); U Dillane, J Cannon; E Masterson (S O’Brien 50), J Butler, J Muldoon.

Glasgow Warriors: R Jackson; L Masaga, A Dunbar, S Johnson (A Hastings 8) (L Sarto 58), L Jones; P Horne, A Price (H Pyrgos 73); J Bhatti (O Kebble 38-40) (Kebble 46), G Turner (J Malcolm 73), Z Fagerson; T Swinson (G Peterson 73), S Cummings; R Wilson, M Smith (M Fagerson 61), A Ashe.

Attendance: 4,017

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU).