Rennie wants to sharpen up for Saracens

23 Mar 2019

Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie was pleased with the manner in which his side controlled proceedings in their 35-17 victory over the Toyota Cheetahs at Scotstoun this evening, but admitted that they will look to sharpen up ahead of their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final with Saracens next weekend.

Five different players crossed the whitewash as the Warriors earned a bonus-point victory in their first home match for a month, yet Rennie believes that there is still more to come from his players.

“I was quite happy with what we did with ball in hand tonight – we carried strongly, created quick ball and put them under pressure when we kept hold of the ball,” said Rennie.

“I wasn’t too happy with the number of loose kicks tonight though. We just gave possession back to a team that is incredibly dangerous from broken field play. You have to kick smartly, so we’ll have to sharpen that up ahead of next week.”

The youthful centre partnership of Stafford McDowall and Kyle Steyn once again caught the eye of those in attendance, with both men amongst the try-scorers for Rennie’s side.

“Kyle trained a fair bit with us around the November period, but we couldn’t guarantee him game time and he wanted to play, so he went off to play sevens,” said Rennie.

“He’s played a lot at centre, though, and we were keen to bring him in during the Six Nations because we knew we’d have a lot of midfielders away. He’s grabbed his opportunity really well and that’s exciting for us.

“Stafford has been excellent. He’s got a great skill-set and terrific work rate, so he’s gone really well recently. With the injuries we’ve got at centre, they could well be in contention for Saracens next week.”

The squad’s attention will now turn to Saturday’s last-eight tie at Allianz Park, in what will be only the club’s second-ever Heineken Champions Cup knockout match. With the English champions providing a formidable test for the men from Scotstoun, Rennie is in no doubt as to what is required from his team.

“I thought we controlled the game really well when we kept the ball in hand, but just some of the kicks in behind put us under pressure. Against Saracens you’ve got to kick because they put a wall in front of you, but they need to be contestable or find grass.

“We want to play what’s in front of us, though.”