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Lock Jonny Gray has identified discipline as being key when Glasgow seek revenge against Toulouse on Saturday. - 11/12/2014 15:26
Lock Jonny Gray has identified discipline as being key when Glasgow seek revenge against Toulouse on Saturday.
The Scottish side lost their unbeaten record in Pool 4 of the Champions Cup when they fell to a 19-11 defeat at the hands of the four-time European champions in France.
It meant Guy Noves’ men took over at the top of the pool with a three-point advantage, and the Warriors know they will need a result on home turf at Scotstoun if they are to reach the knock-out stages for the first time.
Last time out their hopes were hit by yellow cards to Finn Russell and Leone Nakawara, and Scotland second row Gray, brother of Castres and British and Irish Lions lock Richie, has demanded there is no repeat this time round.
He said: “We know we are going to have to be very disciplined in any game. We have looked at it and will try and be as disciplined as we can be this weekend.
“We know how clinical Toulouse are and that they will take their chances and we have to be on top of our game. They have world class player and you can see that week in and week out with the quality they have got. It is just an amazing experience to be playing against them. We will look at the stuff we need to improve on and we will learn from that.”
Another win for Toulouse would put the French giants within sight of a quarter-final berth, but Imanol Harinordoquy knows just how difficult it will be to win on the road.
He said: “It is going to be very tough, they are a really great team and they pushed us very hard last week despite playing a quarter of the match with only 14 men.
“They will probably be more comfortable at home, they will be better organised and hold on to the ball better. If we want to take the points in Scotland we have to be more effective in key areas, when we analysed the game we saw we lost a few balls at the breakdown because we were too slow to give support at the ruck. We need more control there.”
Match Facts
- Toulouse celebrated their 100th win in the tournament, becoming the first team to record a century of victories in the Champions Cup.
- Toulouse have won six of their last seven games in the tournament, their best run of form since winning 11 in a row between 2009 and 2011.
- The Warriors have won just one of their last seven games against French opposition in this tournament (D1 L5).
- However, six of the last eight games involving Glasgow and French opposition in this tournament have seen a final points margin of a converted try or less.
- Louis Picamoles had the highest average gain of any player to make 10+ carries last weekend. The number 8 gained 89 metres from 11 carries.
- Glasgow’s Leone Nakarawa made a round-high six offloads against Toulouse last week.
Glasgow Warriors paid a heavy price for three missed kicks after losing a tight European Rugby Champions Cup clash against Toulouse at a sold-out Scotstoun. - 13/12/2014 15:30
Glasgow Warriors paid a heavy price for three missed kicks after losing a tight European Rugby Champions Cup clash against Toulouse at a sold-out Scotstoun.
Finn Russell missed two penalties and Stuart Hogg was also off-target with a long-range kick in a game of few scoring opportunities.
Instead Sebastien Bezy kicked Toulouse to a crucial away win with four penalties that maintained their unbeaten start. Victory saw the four-time cup winners open a six-point lead at the top of Pool 4.
Glasgow claimed a losing bonus point to regain second place but it was a desperately disappointing display from a team who had found few problems scoring tries in the Guinness Pro12.
Head coach Gregor Townsend described this game against the four-time European champions as the biggest in the club’s history and sell-out crowd of 7,000 crammed inside Scotstoun for this highly-anticipated clash.
But Glasgow failed to find their usual rhythm against the suffocating defence of Toulouse that was spearheaded by their experienced No8 Louis Picamoles.
Bezy kicked Toulouse ahead 6-3 at half-time and the second-half got off to an ominous start for Glasgow when Russell missed the chance to equalise when he fired wide for the second time.
Instead Bezy opened a 12-3 lead and Glasgow were facing the prospect of finishing empty-handed for the second week in a row.
Townsend threw-on Duncan Weir on the hour and immediately made an impact with a penalty that cut the deficit. But even the tricky Niko Matawalu could not unlock the French defence. Euan Murray came on the sure up the Glasgow scrum but after winning a penalty, the lineout failed.
That was perhaps the reason why Glasgow opted to kick a late penalty at goal, rather than go for a potentially winning try. Weir’s successful effort halved Toulouse’ lead and set up a nail-biting final six minutes.
But Sean Lamont was among those guilty of handling errors in the final moments as Glasgow fell short and Toulouse held out for a fourth win.
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