Discipline not good enough – Wilson

• 13 Dec 2020

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Danny Wilson was frustrated by his team’s discipline in their Heineken Champions Cup opener this afternoon, following a 42-0 defeat by defending champions Exeter at Sandy Park.

The visitors were overpowered by an English outfit that enjoyed the vast majority of territory and possession in front of 2,000 spectators, but Wilson highlighted the ease with which Exeter were able to enter the Glasgow 22.

“We talked all week about how important our discipline was going to be against Exeter, and then we give away 10 penalties in the first half an hour,” said Wilson.

“That led to us being 14 points down despite having the wind at our backs, so when they’ve got the wind they’re just going to pin you in your 22. If you give a side like Exeter that many opportunities they’ll punish you, and they hurt us really badly with that today.

“We’ve come here and caused ourselves problems with our discipline. We actually defended a lot of Exeter’s close-range lineouts well today, but the best way of stopping it is not being in the situation in the first place.”

Wilson’s men now face a six-day turnaround ahead of their next outing in Europe’s premier club competition, as the Warriors welcome Lyon to Scotstoun.

It’s a match that means an intensive week of training for Wilson’s men, with the Glasgow boss ready to put his side to work in order to tighten up their discipline.

“We’ll have a look at where we stand early in the week,” said Wilson.

“We’ll assess how the guys that went off injured today are, and we’re hopeful for a couple of others to come back from injury. “Not scoring is particularly painful, though. There are a few different combinations we might look at, but we know we need a much better second game next week.

“We’ve got a lot to do this week. That’s two games on the bounce where the discipline hasn’t been anywhere near good enough, so we’ve got to look at that. It’s about improving our performance, there’s no excuses from us.

“We’ve got to be better.”