GLASGOW coach Sean Lineen is relying on 'Scottish nature' to help Glasgow bounce back from a desperately disappointing defeat in Newport, with European aristocrats Toulouse up next.
The one consolation for Glasgow is that they have plenty of damaged pride to make up for.
Lineen was honest enough to state the obvious – Newport Gwent Dragons are not Toulouse, so a damaging defeat to the Welsh side is hardly the perfect preparat
ion for the three-time European champions, last year's losing finalists and Europe's second-ranked team.
"We were up 10-0 and then we backed off. The forward pack got beasted again, the starting 15 were not at the races against a team which is not Toulouse," was the rueful verdict of the disappointed Glasgow coach. "I have not yelled at the players, but individually that was an appalling performance from all of them. They have to take a long hard look at themselves and come back fighting against Toulouse – which, typical Scottish nature, they will.
I was sad after the game, embarrassed about the level of professional rugby players in the premier competition."
It was at a ground where Glasgow had won on their last two visits.
They also had the perfect start going 10-0 up thanks primarily to a length-of-the-pitch interception try by Lome Fa'atau, the right wing, in a move which could easily have ended up as a try for the home side instead.
The Dragons did start pegging back the lead thanks to the boot of outside half James Arlidge.
A key moment was the sin-binning of Scotland flanker Kelly Brown just before half-time as the home side scored a try through wing Gareth Wyatt, a drop goal and penalty by Arlidge during the ten minutes he was off the field.
Glasgow responded with their best period of play, with Max Evans showing up as a potent attacking threat at outside centre. He almost made a try for wing Hefin O'Hare but then went all the way himself to level the scores. The Dragons stretched their lead thanks to close-range tries by Wyatt and veteran Colin Charvis. Glasgow skipper Ally Kellock barged his way over from close range in similar fashion, but the result was sealed when Arlidge slotted a drop goal to extend the lead to 10 points with injury time running out.
Scorers: Dragons: Tries – Wyatt (2), Charvis. Pens – Arlidge (3). Cons – Arlidge. Drops – Arlidge (2). Glasgow: Tries – Fa'atau, Evans, Kellock. Pens – Gregor. Cons – Gregor (2).
Newport Gwent Dragons: P Dollman; G Wyatt, R Sidey, M Stcherbina, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans; A Black, T Willis (capt), R Thomas, A Jones, L Charteris, J Bearman, C Charvis, L Evans. Subs: S Jones, A Coundley, G Webb, A Hall for A Jones 69, R Lewis, S Connor, A Smith for Sidey 75.
Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, G Morrison, H O'Hare; C Gregor, M McMillan; J Va'a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie. Subs: E Kalman, K Tkachuk for Low 60, T Barker for Palepoi 40, S Swindall for Barclay 70, A Henderson for Morrison 78, R Jackson for McMillan 60, R Vernon for Brown 70.
Attendance: 5,238.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
The full article contains 561 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
