Wilson confident in team’s ability bounce back

• 5 Mar 2022

A frustrated Danny Wilson fronted up the media following this evening’s defeat to the Scarlets in Llanelli, after his team slipped to a first defeat in six United Rugby Championship matches.

Despite leading 10-7 at the interval, an inspired Scarlets outfit ran in four unanswered second half tries to send the Warriors home empty-handed on a difficult night in west Wales.

“To have gone as well as we have in recent weeks and then have a second half collapse like that is extremely disappointing,” said Wilson.

“It was a mix of poor execution from us and very good attack from the Scarlets – I don’t want to take anything away from them, because I thought they were very good.

“We’ve also had illness and injury on our end this week, including this evening with the boys that went off. It doesn’t matter who we have on the pitch, though, if you give a good side like the Scarlets opportunities, they’ll take them.

“Their finishing tonight was of a really high calibre, and they grew in confidence as the game went on. We controlled the first half but didn’t get enough points as a reward for our control, and we were punished for that.”

The game’s key moment came with half an hour remaining, with Jamie Dobie’s try ruled out by the TMO for an obstruction in midfield by Ryan Wilson.

With the blow immediately followed up by Gareth Davies darting over for the home side, it proved to be a sucker punch for those in white and blue.

“There were huge momentum swings in that game, for me,” said Wilson.

“There was the Scarlets try just before half-time that gave them a foothold in the match, but there was also a five-metre lineout where we get penalised for a straight-arm delivery and the disallowed try for us. From both of those penalties, they go down the other end and score.

“It’s out of character for us, but we’ll patch ourselves up and go again. This group knows how to bounce back.”

Wilson’s squad will have a fortnight to lick their wounds and come back firing, as the Warriors prepare for one of the most highly-anticipated clashes of the season.

The Glasgow Head Coach has confidence in his team’s ability to put this result behind them, with cross-country rivals Edinburgh next up at Scotstoun for the 1872 Cup first leg.

“It’s important to remember we’ve had a bad second-half – a diabolical second half, if I’m being brutally honest – but that we’re a much better team than that performance,” said Wilson.

“I’m not looking at this as a week-in, week-out situation, because we’ve had a run of five games coming into this game where we’ve taken 23 points from 25.

“This group is a strong group and we’ll work on what needs worked on ahead of Edinburgh.”