'That's going to be our theme for the season' - Glasgow Warriors irritation after friendly defeat to Connacht

Glasgow Warriors' Tom Jordan in action during the friendly defeat to Connacht at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday. (Photo by Calum Chittleburgh / SNS Group)

Losing pre-season matches might not trouble head coach Franco Smith but for those Glasgow players involved it is undoubtedly a source of irritation.

Warriors’ journey to the United Rugby Championship was driven by an almost insatiable will to win that doesn’t diminish even when there is nothing tangible at stake beyond personal pride.

Friendly games against Zebre in Parma and then at home to Connacht on Saturday night might have been organised with a view to raising fitness levels but the fact that Glasgow have lost both encounters does not sit well with those who took part.

“You absolutely do [get annoyed], 100 percent,” said Tom Jordan, who scored Warriors’ opening try in the 28-21 reverse. “You’re a professional athlete who's always striving to be the best, so it's always a little bit disappointing when you don't get the result.

“I think we definitely stepped up from last week, just in terms of clarity and definitely the accuracy was increased as well. The silver lining is that it’s pre-season and that's what it's for.

“It's for trying different things, different combinations, trying to work on some things, and you've got the freedom of playing a little bit looser. We can narrow our focus come the start of the URC.”

Just like Zebre the previous weekend, Connacht looked sharper and better prepared as they ran in four tries, something a visiting team rarely achieves at Scotstoun.

Warriors were far from full strength, with most of their Scotland internationals not long returned to training and not involved. but they did still look slightly sluggish as they went about their business.

There has been a recurring theme throughout pre-season that the Glasgow players suspect they have become a prized scalp to be claimed as the defending champions, something Jordan also touched upon.

“I think the opposition are going to target us way more,” he added. “Last year we were definitely more under the radar. But when you go up against the top teams, you know they're the top team, you're going to prep harder, you're going to have that chip on your shoulder going into the games.

“Now we've got that, I guess, luxury that we're the ones everyone wants to knock off, so even in the pre-season they're going to come pretty hard to beat us, so fair play to Connacht.

“That's going to be our theme for the season, every team's going to want to come and smash us up, so I think it's important that we just get our mindset right and just take the learnings and then just rip into the first game and get all that rust and stuff out of the system.

“We were probably a little bit slow which ultimately is going to affect your attack and defence, and you probably saw that in the first half. We were just not physical enough to stop their carries.”

Jordan has started at inside centre in both of Glasgow’s friendlies but is yet to establish if that is where he will play most of his games when the competitive stuff gets underway.

“I enjoyed playing 12, it was good to mix it up with a few different calls,” he added. “Franco hasn’t said much about my role - I think it will be the same as last season, when I played a few games at 12.”