Rennie pleased with Ulster victory

Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie was pleased with the improvements in his side’s performance, as they claimed a 36-33 victory over Ulster in The Famous Grouse Pre-Season Challenge.

Adam Nicol’s 78^th minute try proved decisive for the hosts, with Glenn Bryce claiming the Famous Grouse Man of the Match award in front of the Warrior Nation.

“It was pretty entertaining, wasn’t it?” said Rennie.

“It was a better performance from us, certainly defensively for big parts of the game. Both sides probably conceded a couple of tries they wouldn’t expect to concede, but Ulster are a good side – they’re near full-strength, so that’s given us a good indication of where we are as a squad.

“We still need to look after the ball better, but I thought there were a lot of good performances out there.”

Rennie was also pleased with the impact of the 12 players not involved at the Kingspan Stadium last week, including a couple of the club’s returning Scotland internationals.

“There was a fair bit of experience in the 12 boys that came into the squad today,” said Rennie.

“Stafford [McDowall] and Huw [Jones] both had really strong games in midfield, and I thought Kyle Steyn had a good game on the wing.

“It was good to get guys like Callum Gibbins and Matt Fagerson a bit of game time today as well, and we’ve come through today relatively unscathed.”

Next on the agenda for Rennie’s men will be the not-so-insignificant matter of the 2019/20 Guinness Pro14 opener against the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. The Warriors boss will now turn his attention to preparing the squad for the trip to South Africa, but paid tribute to the Scotstoun faithful.

“We know we’ll have to be better at looking after the ball against the Cheetahs,” said Rennie.

“We know that if we make a mistake, they’ll punish us – they’ve got a lot of quick guys who can attack from anywhere. I’m pleased with the shifts we made in our game today, though.

“[Scotstoun]’s a great place to play. The crowd was certainly very vocal, and I’m glad we gave them something to cheer today.”