Franco Smith hailed his side’s character as Glasgow Warriors came from 14-0 down to defeat Ulster 33-20 and go clear at the top of the United Rugby Championship.

The Warriors have won five of their six games but had to show great tenacity after a difficult opening at a sold-out Scotstoun. They pulled away in the second half and the bonus-point victory means they move a point ahead of Leinster at the summit. The Dublin side beat Munster 21-16 in front of 49,000 at the Aviva but there was no bonus point.

“I’m very happy with the fightback from the boys,” said Smith after Glasgow’s five-try win. “Being 14-0 down, it was an important character test for us. We stuck to the process and showed discipline and belief. It was really encouraging to see the response from the players.”

Glasgow Warriors Sione Tuipulotu in action against Ulster.

Converted tries from Tom Stewart and John Cooney gave Ulster a dream start but that was as good as it got for the visitors and the Warriors had drawn level by half-time through scores from Sean Kennedy and George Turner, both converted by Tom Jordan. Kyle Rowe put Glasgow ahead before replacement hooker Johnny Matthews scored two tries, the first a mere 35 seconds after coming on.

“We showed our intent in the last 15 minutes before half-time,” added Smith. “We were inaccurate from the start and we ended up having lots of defensive resets in the first 15 minutes. It was small things to adjust and the belief they showed was fantastic. We always go hard at the scrum and it’s an important part of our gameplan so it was nice to get the rewards. We had a good shape to the scrum.”

Sione Tuipulotu, the Glasgow centre and man of the match, felt his team were always capable of recovering from their poor start. “We kind of messed up the first 20 minutes of the game, but that was good to go through,” said Tuipulotu. “We managed to fight back, so I’m proud of the boys. We thought they fired their shots early and felt we could wrestle back momentum. I feel like we’ve got some of the best back rowers in the comp and the pressure they put on the breakdown puts massive pressure on the opposition.”

Glasgow’s next test is an away game against last season’s champions Munster in Cork on Friday.

Glasgow Warriors reaction: Franco Smith explains what encouraged him most as Sione Tuipulotu admits first 20 were 'messed up'