“The next two games are must-wins for us now”

• 12 Mar 2021

It was a victory that kept Glasgow Warriors’ hopes of Heineken Champions Cup qualification alive, and the club’s coaching team was proud of their side’s ability to bounce back from a less than auspicious opening to record the crucial result under the Scotstoun floodlights.

Led by a Player of the Match-winning display from 21-year-old fly-half Ross Thompson, three second-half tries ensured that it would be the home side celebrating come the final whistle.

For Kenny Murray, it was the ability of the Warriors to rebound from conceding two early tries that was most impressive, however.

“We were under the pump for the first 20 minutes,” admitted Glasgow’s Defence Coach.

“We didn’t show the physicality that we needed, and we gave the Ospreys a 12-0 start. I thought we showed really good resilience to get ourselves back into the match, especially during the first yellow card period.

“We were dominant in defensive sets, and if it wasn’t for a couple of silly defensive errors we could have been going into the half-time break ahead.

“It gives us confidence going into the trip to the Dragons next weekend, which we know we need to win in order to keep our chances of finishing third in the conference alive.”

Attack Coach Jonny Bell also praised his team’s focus in chasing the victory, after watching the Warriors run in scores courtesy of Lee Jones, Rufus McLean and Aki Seiuli.

“Our contact area wasn’t great to begin with, we lost the ball too many times going into contact for my liking,” said Bell.

“We composed ourselves well though, and I thought our set-piece was excellent. It was important that we controlled the game well in conditions like those, and Ross [Thompson] stepped up and ran the show with real maturity.

“Sean [Kennedy] and Jamie [Dobie] dovetailed well in the second half too, and that gave us the control we needed to be the team on top in that second half.”

The goal is now as clear as can be for the Warriors as they pursue third place in Conference A; if the Ospreys fail to record any points from next weekend’s clash with Leinster, victories over the Dragons and Benetton will see Glasgow leapfrog their Welsh counterparts into the top three.

“No two ways about it – the next two games are must-wins for us now,” confirmed Bell.

“We know we’ll need a favour along the way, but all we can control is making sure we get the two wins from those two matches.”