Set-piece prowess pleases Rennie

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie paid tribute to his side’s physicality in their victory over the Dragons, after a pack-powered showing saw them record a 34-19 victory over their visitors from South Wales.

Grant Stewart
grabbed two of Glasgow’s five tries on the night, in a result that sees the
Warriors climb into a playoff place in Guinness PRO14 Conference A.

“We knew the
set-piece would be important tonight,” said Rennie.

“I thought
our lineout and lineout drive were excellent – John Dalziel has done a great job
with those boys and it showed tonight.

“We felt we
could play tonight. We were a pass away from being a bit further in front at
half-time, and moments like Aki’s no-try and the cross-kick that bounced away
from Tommy didn’t go our way. We knew we just needed to hang onto the ball and apply
a bit of pressure, which we did well in the second half.”

A
man-of-the-match showing on his first start for the club ensured that Jamie
Dobie would once again be receiving the plaudits of observers aplenty
post-match, with the scrum-half recovering from throwing an early interception
to provide a constant spark around the base of the ruck.

“Jamie
bounced back really well from that start,” nodded Rennie.

“He’s a good
kid and he’s worked really hard on his game. He’s fortunate in that we’ve got a
fair bit of experience at scrum-half in this club, and guys in the squad that
can put an arm around him and help him. I thought he was really strong tonight.

“The break
he made [at the start of the second half] was excellent – he’s done well to
shape to kick and then snipe down the blindside, which got us downfield and gained
a lot of yardage. He was smart enough to nudge it ahead, and we scored off the
next lineout.

“I thought
he was a big contributor tonight.”

The result
continues Glasgow’s unbeaten run at the start of 2020, with the bonus-point
victory – combined with Ulster’s win over the Cheetahs – seeing them move into the
playoff positions at the top of Conference A.

For Rennie,
the message to his squad is clear ahead of Friday night’s trip to Leinster.

“Ever since
we dropped the game at BT Murrayfield, we knew we needed to win and pick up bonus-points
[to be in the mix]” he said.’

“We’ve
picked up 15 points from our last three games, which is incredibly pleasing.
Our future is in our own hands – we need to keep picking up results.

“Leinster
are tough to beat at home as we all know, but we beat them the last time we
were over there. We’ve got a huge amount of respect for Leinster and we’re well
aware of the challenge ahead, but we’re going to go over to Dublin and throw
everything at the game.”