VIDEO: Six-try thumping my mistake
VIDEO: Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith was adamant his side was beaten by a Lions side who played extremely well with just 14 players.
The Lions scored four tries in 10 minutes and claimed a 44-21 victory, a result that knocked Glasgow out of the top two of the United Rugby Championship with one round to play.
This was the Warriors’ biggest loss this season, something Smith and his captain Kyle Steyn were not happy about as they faced the media at the post-match press conference at Ellis Park on Saturday evening.
“I don’t think we did anything wrong,” Smith responded to the question on what went wrong for his side.
“We didn’t finish our opportunities. My mistake, I take full responsibility for that.
“Maybe a good lesson before we go into the final part of things.
“The Lions played extremely well without a full fifteen,” Smith said.
“I think everything went right for the Lions. They played some good rugby and well done to them.
“We have a couple of lessons to learn from tonight.”
Although the Warriors didn’t walk away with the result, Smith emphasised the reflective points that will come out of this game ahead of the knock-out stages in the United Rugby Championship.
“We know how the Lions play. But a loose kick a little bit too long, two turnovers at the breakdown, an intercept try… there are things we could have done better, I agree.
“Everything went right for the Lions. They played some good rugby and it was five turnover tries, so well done to them.
“We have a couple of lessons to take home, but I don’t think anything went wrong. I just think we were unfortunate.
“Through this season a lot of expectation grew, and that’s always a negative ingredient. Tonight that expectation was obviously wiped off, so that is fantastic.”
Smith believed playing against opponents reduced to first 14, then 13 men, then 14 again might have worked against Warriors.
“I think in general we went a little bit off script,” he said. “We haven’t played against 14 or 13 players that often, and you get rewarded for what you’re doing and get a little bit over-excited.
“It’s another lesson for this team to take forward into the next part of the season.”
Steyn said it was basic errors that let them down.
“We were getting the ball in the right areas, we were bending them on the edges. It was just basic errors that let us down, whether it was the last pass or the ability to secure those breakdowns, and they pounced off the back of that.
“We were nice and decisive, I think we’ve just got to be better as a team and as a unit to make sure when we get into those positions, we can capitalise on it,” the captain said.
After finishing their two-game tour of South Africa with just two losing bonus points from last week’s 34-40 loss to the Bulls, Glasgow will need to lick their wounds over the next fortnight before a final regular-season home game against Zebre on June 1 prior to a home quarterfinal.
“Obviously I’m disappointed,” Smith added.
“I think we’re a better team than the scorelines reflected. I think we were well prepared physically, it wasn’t the heat or the altitude that caught up on us – we proved that last week against the Bulls by scoring a lot of points late in the game.
“In general our prep was good. We’re going to take some lessons, but the high number of points that we’ve given away is uncharacteristic of us.”
