Bonus-point victory pleases Murchie

• 2 Oct 2021

It’s all about accentuating the positives for Pete Murchie after this afternoon’s bonus-point victory over the Cell C Sharks, as Glasgow Warriors welcomed supporters back to the stands at Scotstoun.

A crowd of 6,449 witnessed a five-try, 35-24 win for the home side in the late afternoon sunshine, with the try bonus-point secured by half-time to the delight of the Warrior Nation.

“We will definitely take the positives out of that one,” Murchie told glasgowwarriors.org following the full-time whistle.

“I thought we were excellent for the first 50 minutes – we scored some fantastic tries and that’s probably some of the best rugby we’ve played since I’ve been here as a coach. We applied pressure well and we showed big improvements in what we’d worked on after the Ulster match. We’re very pleased with that.

“We obviously lost a bit of momentum in the last half an hour, but that’s a good learning point for us. Ultimately, we’ve got a bonus-point win at home against a good South African side, and we’ll take that and build on it.”

Murchie was also pleased with how the Warriors executed their skill-set throughout the match, as a physical Sharks side often earned no change from their hosts.

“I think we did our basics really well,” said the Assistant Coach.

“We dealt with restarts well, built our way up the pitch and then tried to move the ball into space when we had the chance to attack in their territory.

“When we got quick ball and played at our tempo, we looked really dangerous. All of the things that we need to fire, we got them right in that first 50 minutes or so.”

Another South African test awaits Glasgow next weekend, as the Emirates Lions pitch up at Scotstoun for the inaugural professional meeting between the two sides.

With the Johannesburg-based outfit the only South African squad to have claimed a victory thus far this campaign, Murchie knows that the Warriors will need to be at their best once more to secure the right result.

“The Lions will definitely be tricky,” he said.

“They beat Zebre away from home last weekend and then showed how dangerous they can be against the Scarlets last night, despite ending up on the wrong end of the scoreline in that one.

“We’ll have a good week of training, take the learning points from today and build on the positives, and we’ll be ready to take them on next week.”

For Murchie and the home side, though, the return of the Warrior Nation to Scotstoun was the factor that made the victory all the sweeter.

“It’s brilliant to see the four stands full again,” said Murchie.

“We had a taste of it against Newcastle, but to have the four stands back was a brilliant feeling. It really gives the boys that extra edge and spurs them on, and it feels a bit more like normal again.

“There’s no buzz like a Scotstoun game day and the fans were great today – it’s up to us to keep them entertained and cheering us on.”

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