To start the pool with a win is important – Rennie

• 16 Nov 2019

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie believes there is still more to come from his side, following their 13-7 victory over Sale Sharks to open their 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup campaign.

In front of
a capacity crowd at Scotstoun, the home side opened up a 13-0 half-time
advantage before producing a sterling defensive effort to hold off a late fightback
from their English opponents.

However,
Rennie underlined that improvements will still need to be made ahead of their
second pool match next weekend.

“We played
pretty well, especially in the first half, but I thought we overplayed in our
own half at times,” said the Warriors boss.

“Sale are
too good a side to stay in an arm wrestle with, and they asked us a lot of
questions.

“I felt we
were comfortable at 13-0 at half-time, but we turned a lot of ball over and put
ourselves under a lot of pressure. We’ll need to be better next week.”

The New
Zealander highlighted the contact area and breakdown as particular strengths in
his side’s performance, before turning his attention to the training week
ahead.

“I thought
we were excellent in contact today – our carrying was strong, we were excellent
in the clean out and generated quick ball and our defensive lineout was superb,”
said Rennie.

“We’ll keep
tweaking those, but I’m happy with how we played in those areas of the game.

“We’ll work
on decision making and how we manipulate the defence for next week and look to
improve ahead of next Saturday.”

Exeter
Chiefs will provide the next test for Rennie’s men, with the Warriors making
the trip to Sandy Park in seven days’ time.

“We back
ourselves no matter where we play,” said Rennie.

“I guess
that’s why there’s a bit of frustration after that one – we know we can be
better. We’ll have a beer tonight though, because we’re happy to get the win.

“To get all
four points and to start the pool with a win is important, and we’re delighted.”