Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith reacts to bonus point win over Perpignan and voices concern over ‘inaccuracy’

Franco Smith’s joy at Glasgow Warriors’ bonus point victory over Perpignan was tempered slightly by an inaccuracy in their play which almost let the Catalan side back into the game.

Rufus McLean and Sintu Manjezi celebrate with Warriors fans at full time after the win over Perpignan at BT Murrayfield. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Playing at BT Murrayfield because of the frozen pitch at Scotstoun, Glasgow looked to be in control of the Challenge Cup tie, but they allowed Perpignan in midway through the second half when Lucas Dubois’ converted try put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match.

The Warriors quickly recovered their poise and forced a penalty try and a yellow card, eventually winning 26-18 with Perpignan going down to 13 men at one point as Posolo Tuilagi followed Tristan Labouteley into the sin-bin.

“We are very happy with the bonus-point victory but we know we were inaccurate at times,” said Smith, the Glasgow coach, who made 10 changes to the side which beat Bath last week. “With the changes we made to the team, you could see that a lot of guys need to get out on the field again and play some rugby. They hadn’t played for a while.

“Especially in the second part of the game, we were inaccurate. We maybe overplayed at times. But we are still excited to come away from the game with five points. Our DNA is all about playing rugby. That’s understandable. But we maybe just overplayed slightly at times and that led to inaccuracy. That’s definitely a work-on for us.”

Glasgow’s other tries came from Rufus McLean, Huw Jones and Seb Cancelliere, and Duncan Weir added two conversions. Fly-half Jake McIntyre crossed for Perpignan’s first try and centre Dorian Laborde kicked two long-range penalties and a conversion.

The win leaves Warriors handily placed in Pool A of the Challenge Cup with two wins from two following last week’s victory in Bath. They will play reverse fixtures against the same sides in January. Glasgow’s attention now turns to domestic matters, with the 1872 Cup double header with Edinburgh to be played on December 23 and 30, at Scotstoun and Murrayfield respectively.