'Self-destructive' Glasgow Warriors refuse to hide behind squad excuses for defeat by Lions

Franco Smith refused to make excuses after seeing his Glasgow team lose 35-24 to the Lions on Saturday - a result that brought a ten-game unbeaten run to an end.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith.

The Warriors were without 12 of their Scotland internationals and the game was played at altitude and in sweltering conditions in Johannesburg. But the head coach declined to attribute his team’s defeat to those factors, preferring to point out that they had created enough chances to win.

“We made a lot of errors, and I think the main thing for us is we were a bit self-destructive,” Smith said. “There were five clear try-scoring opportunities that we didn’t use, and then the flip side is we turned the ball over too easily.

“The way we reacted after half-time proved we can play at this altitude and in this heat. So that absolutely wasn’t an effect.”

Eli Caven and Cole Forbes touched down in the first half, with both being converted by Tom Jordan. The stand-off scored the Warriors’ third try after the break before Thomas Gordon got the bonus-point score as the visitors fought on until the end.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Smith added. “With four tries scored against us in the first half, it could have run away from us if the players hadn’t stayed resilient and kept on believing that we could win it.

“We will take a lot of positives out of this, because we did play some good rugby. It’s just the execution that let us down.”