Venter and co ready to bounce back from Galway defeat

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 22: Warriors' Henco Venter during a BKT URC match between Glasgow Warriors and Leinster at Scotstoun Stadium, on October 22, 2023, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

A 34-26 reverse at the hands of the Irish province at The Sportsground consigned Glasgow Warriors to a first defeat of the 2023/24 BKT United Rugby Championship season, after a performance that Venter believes does not reflect the true nature of this season’s group of Warriors.

“We’re not happy with our performance at all,” the back-rower told glasgowwarriors.org.

“We knew that coming to Galway would be a tough test for us, and we know that Connacht are a very good team, but we weren’t at the level that we demand or expect from ourselves.

“We’ll take the positives, learn from it, and do everything we can to prevent it from happening again.”

Despite outscoring their opponents by four tries to three, Venter highlighted his side’s need to make more from their opportunities when presented to them.

“We needed to be far more clinical than we were,” he said.

“We gave up possession too often and gave them too many opportunities to punish us. The first 10 minutes after the restart, for certain, we should have taken our chances.

“If we have our opponents on the run, we need to keep them on the run and take our chances. They did that to us, and credit to Connacht because they played well and took the opportunities that came their way.”

A return to home territory and the visit of the Stormers on Friday night presents the Warriors with a near-instant chance to move on from yesterday’s defeat, with the South Africans as yet undefeated in the 2023/24 season.

Having emerged victorious thanks to a last-minute try from Sebastian Cancelliere in an unforgettable encounter back in January, the stage is set for another titanic clash in Glasgow’s west end.

“Everyone has a bit of ‘what if’ in them after that performance, and already we’re all keen to get out there again and start correcting those errors,” said Venter.

“We’re going to train hard this week because we know that the Stormers will come ready to challenge us, but make no mistake we will be ready to meet that challenge.

“We can’t wait to run out on Friday night in front of the Scotstoun crowd.”