Toulouse’s Sébastien Bézy makes Glasgow and Finn Russell pay penalty
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Version 0 of 1. Gregor Townsend admitted too many handling errors cost his Glasgow Warriors side as they lost 12-9 to Toulouse in Pool Four of the European Champions Cup. The game came down to penalties, with the Toulouse scrum-half Sébastien Bézy landing two in the first half and two more after the break. Finn Russell was not so clinical for Glasgow, spurning a pair of decent chances, and it took a pair of late penalties from the replacement Duncan Weir to make it a tense finish. Townsend felt his side failed to get to grips with the occasion, as they lost to the Frenchmen for a second successive weekend. The head coach said: “The effort was there in a game that never really kicked off. However, a mixture of the quality of the opposition, their excellent defence and our errors, particularly handling, left us just short.” Pressed about the on-field decision to kick for goal with what was to be the final penalty with eight minutes remaining, rather than kick to the corner in a quest for a try that would have put Glasgow ahead, Townsend defended the decision of the captain, Josh Strauss. “There was still plenty of time to get back into the Toulouse half,” Townsend said. “And the way the game was going I sensed there weren’t going to be many tries scored.” Toulouse are away and clear at the top of the pool, with Glasgow battling Bath for second position. “We have to win the last two games to qualify – that is the challenge ahead,” Townsend said. “And now we have to switch the focus quickly to the next league game.” Glasgow return to Scotstoun and the Pro12 next Saturday afternoon when they host Munster. There was much satisfaction in the Toulouse camp after their narrow win, which puts them six points clear at the top of the pool. Their forwards coach, William Servat, said: “Glasgow are a very good team and it was amazing to manage to get a win in a very balanced match. Glasgow did not play with the same rhythm as last week. Today they wanted to make war. They were really aggressive in the rucks.” Servat played down any suggestion that Toulouse now have a straightforward path to the quarter-finals. He said: “We saw last night how well Bath played in beating Montpellier and we were lucky to beat them in game one. “We know the quality of the players and staff at Montpellier and when they sort out their current problems that match will be really hard. Indeed, the last two games will be harder than the four up to now.” |