That sound you maybe heard through the buffeting wind and the driving, freezing rain at Scotstoun on Saturday night was the air fizzling out of Glasgow Warriors’ season before we’ve even reached Christmas.
Even if the thrilling last-gasp “try” – going from a stolen lineout midway in their own half to Scott Cummings rumbling over the line 14 phases later as the clock ticked into the last minute – had stood, it would have been papering over the cracks.
Just as the week before had been. There, an opportunistic interception by Niko Matawalu turned a probable lights-out try for La Rochelle into an unlikely comeback which Glasgow even then nearly botched in the final seconds.
On Saturday night in the return it was the Warriors who botched the chances to win, handing a 12-7 victory to a French side who were supposed to have lost all interest in the Heineken Champions Cup. Instead, La Rochelle looked strong enough and rode their luck a little with indiscipline but had more quality – and crucially, experience – where it counted.
Head coach Dave Rennie isn’t giving up quarter-final qualification yet, but as he mapped out what needed to be done, you could see that the game is pretty much up.
“It’s tough from here, no doubt,” he said. “We’ll need to beat Exeter with a bonus and probably need to get all five out of Sale.
“The way a couple of groups are looking you going to need some big numbers to get through if you don’t win your pool, probably 19 or so points. Tonight’s not terminal but it’s tougher from here.”
Getting try bonus wins against two teams who have closed down the Warriors’ offensively already looks pretty much undoable. Exeter will be coming to Scotstoun looking to seal the pool, a home draw and high seeding for the last eight, and Sale away is not really bonus territory.
With the PRO14 not panning out the way Glasgow fans had hoped – and that’s putting it mildly, with two home defeats already and a dreadful loss to Dragons – Rennie’s last season in charge is beginning to bear a startling resemblance to his predecessor Gregor Townsend’s final year at the club.
Townsend had the Scotland job confirmed months in advance and the team almost sleepwalked through the latter part of the season. This time, with Rennie confirmed as off to the Wallabies in May, they haven’t even waited until the halfway mark.
On a frightful night, the Warriors didn’t adapt to what should be pretty reasonably familiar conditions and their decision making was dreadful. The chasm of age and experience between La Rochelle’s veteran Brock James and the Warriors’ Adam Hastings was much in evidence.
But Hastings is still only 23 – to James’ 38 – and he’s still learning. That’s a situation that will improve in time.
Even with some dubious decisions at half-back, it was really the more experienced hands who didn’t take control. Glasgow had three penalties under the posts they chose to scrum in a key spell of domination during the second half, and someone – Jonny Gray, Callum Gibbins, Ryan Wilson, anybody – simply had to take charge and point at the posts.
The final foray showed that the Warriors would have got territory back and the way La Rochelle were infringing, probably got at least one other penalty. No-one at Scotstoun wants to see the Warriors turn into Munster but there are times when it has to be done.
Wayne Barnes is the best referee in world rugby, but even the best have an off night. He was right and had no choice with the Matt Fagerson red card that struck Glasgow’s dramatic final score off the board, but it was inexcusable that the French escaped a yellow card sanction until they had committed eight successive penalty offences in a spell of ten minutes.
But even when he did eventually flash the card to scrum-half Alexis Bales – at the insistence of the TMO – Glasgow were still too frenetic and impatient.
And their regular failing – a significant lack of physical impact against bigger opposition – was the root cause. It was hard for Hastings and half-backs Ali Price and George Horne to set an attack when they were getting the ball under duress.
This has never been solved under Rennie and is a factor in why they’re so interested in getting Leone Nakarawa long term. An imposing lock and a big No 8 should be highest on Danny Wilson’s wishlist when he takes charge.
As for this season, Glasgow need to lift themselves for the 1872 Cup doubleheader against an Edinburgh side who are going along quite nicely, or put even the PRO14 play-offs out of reach.
Richard Cockerill’s side also rode their luck a little in a Challenge Cup game at the Ricoh Arena that not even the EPRC press team could love, but his decision to stack his bench with senior players proved canny insurance.
Edinburgh’s defence had been outstanding, stopping Wasps for all but a double-offload try just before half-time. For the final quarter at 7-3 in arrears Cockerill threw on Stuart McInally, Magnus Bradbury, Ben Toolis and Simon Berghan in the forwards and Jaco van der Walt at 10.
Sure enough, the forwards dominated and won two penalties for van der Walt to kick, the second coming with two minutes left to seal an ugly but – in terms of prospective last eight qualification – precious 9-7 victory.
