Murchie disappointed with Ospreys defeat

Glasgow Warriors Assistant Coach Pete Murchie urged his side to be more clinical with their opportunities with ball in hand, after watching the Ospreys claim a 32-17 victory in Swansea yesterday afternoon.

A quickfire late burst that saw the Warriors cross for two tries in the final five minutes ultimately proved in vain, having given themselves too much to do to overhaul their hosts at the Swansea.com Stadium.

“We’re all incredibly disappointed with that,” Murchie told glasgowwarriors.org.

“Everyone in that changing room is hurting as that’s nowhere near the standards we set ourselves.

“The main thing we talked about in the changing rooms afterwards was focusing on how we stay in those games. We had to defend for a lot of the first half and we weren’t anywhere near accurate enough with the ball we did have.

“I thought we stood up to them pretty well, but the second half is a complete role reversal. We had so many opportunities and didn’t convert, and that gave them a little bit more life every time they kept us out. We then started chasing the game as individuals rather than staying tight as a collective, and that’s something we need to work on.

“The final scoreline was poor. There’s no getting away from that. The tale of the game is going to revolve around the mistakes we made, and we have to get better. There’s no two ways about it.”

The late scores from Oli Kebble and Thomas Gordon added to the frustration felt by Murchie and his fellow coaches, highlighting what might have been for the Warriors.

“The fact that we scored those two late tries shows what we could have achieved if we’d taken any of our opportunities earlier,” said Murchie.

“It shows the effect of confidence on a team both with and without the ball.

“I haven’t seen the stats just yet, but from the stands it looked like we were stressing them more when we were in possession than they were stressing us when they had the ball. We missed opportunities and the Ospreys scrambled really well.

“We have to be better at converting those chances, though.”

A return to Scotstoun next weekend awaits, with the 2021/22 BKT URC runners-up the Vodacom Bulls paying their first visit to Glasgow since joining the competition.

With a stern, physical test awaiting them in front of the Warrior Nation next Saturday night, Murchie is well aware of what’s required ahead of kick-off.

“It’s going to be a big challenge, make no mistake – the Bulls are a quality team,” said Murchie.

“It’s exactly the sort of challenge we need after this weekend though, and we know how big an influence the crowd at Scotstoun has on each home match.

“All of our focus this week will be on rectifying those mistakes, with a view of putting things right next Saturday.”