Rennie pleased with Glasgow’s composure

• 12 Oct 2019

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie paid tribute to his side’s composure to secure a first Guinness PRO14 win of the season, as well as highlighting the effort of both defences in Glasgow’s 17-13 win over Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun.

Tries from
Callum Gibbins and Nick Frisby saw the Warriors claim victory in a
closely-fought affair, with Rennie underlining the importance of securing the
right result in front of the Warrior Nation.

“It was
important to get the win,” said the Glasgow boss.

“It was
probably a bit ugly in the end, but it was important we got the result.”

A dogged
effort from the visitors ensured that the Warriors were made to work for every
inch of territory under the floodlights, as man-of-the-match Olly Robinson led
from the front for the Blues.

“On the
whole they won the contact battle tonight,” admitted Rennie.

“I thought
Olly Robinson was outstanding tonight. We knew they’d be good in that area, and
that nullified our ability to keep applying pressure.”

“I thought
we started well, and I thought our lineout drive was pretty good. We generally
played a good territorial game and we managed to apply some pressure to them in
that second half, but to credit their defence they did well.”

The Warriors
– along with their Guinness PRO14 counterparts – now enjoy a week off from competitive
duty, before returning to action with a visit to the Dragons on Saturday 26 October.
It’s a break that Rennie believes will allow his side to rest and recuperate,
as well as reflect on the positives from a first win of the campaign.

“We’d rather
keep playing to be honest, but we’ve got a couple of bumps and bruises to a few
boys, so this break allows them to recover,” said Rennie.

“We felt
that we could maul them well tonight – obviously we kicked a penalty to the
corner early on and scored from it, and we decided to kick to the corner rather
than the posts when they had a man in the bin.

“Even the
last one tonight, when the penalty was so wide there was no guarantee of the
points. Again we backed ourselves in the maul, but unfortunately turned the
ball over.

“I thought
we showed a good amount of composure when it mattered tonight though.”