Glasgow Warriors have let Gregor Townsend down, says Peter Horne

Peter Horne (right) has been with Glasgow throughout Gregor Townsend's reign

Peter Horne says the Glasgow Warriors players feel like they have let down head coach Gregor Townsend by failing to make the Pro12 play-offs.

A top-four finish is beyond Glasgow as they go into their final league game against Edinburgh on Saturday.

It will be Townsend's final match before leaving to take charge of the Scotland squad.

And centre Horne says it "feels wrong" that his side was unable to mark his exit with a semi-final berth.

Warriors won the Pro12 in 2015 and were beaten by eventual winners Connacht in last year's play-off semi-final.

They currently lie sixth - six points behind Ulster and seven off the play-off places.

"It's a shame," said Horne. "It's not sat well with me and a lot of the squad just about the way the end of the season's come around.

"It just feels wrong that we don't have a semi-final and there's no-one to blame but ourselves for that. We've not played well enough this year.

"It's a bit horrible that the season's coming to an end at an early stage.

"If anything, it will just make us hungrier to get back to work. We'll get away, we'll rest up this summer and come back ready to hit the ground running.

Glasgow have already beaten Edinburgh this season

"It doesn't mean that it's been a disaster of a season. We've done well in Europe and we've still had some good wins."

This season, Townsend led Glasgow to their first European Champions Cup quarter-final, having also masterminded the 2015 title triumph.

"It's hard to put into words how much he's done for the club," said Horne. "He's taken us to another level.

"We went from having 1,000 people at Firhill if we're lucky to selling out Scotstoun every single week regardless of how we're playing.

"The brand of rugby we're playing means Gregor's getting tipped for all sorts of jobs and, for the last two or three years, every club's probably been after him at some point."

Not 'a dead rubber'

Edinburgh go to Scotstoun on Saturday ninth in the table and trailing their Scottish rivals by 31 points.

Glasgow and Edinburgh's meetings in the Pro12 double as the two legs of the 1872 Cup, with Warriors having won the first of this term's encounters 25-12 at Murrayfield in December.

"It's an easy game to get yourself up for," added Scotland back Horne. "It's one that we'll be desperate to win.

"We've obviously got a lot within our dressing-room to play for. We want to send the coaches off on a high.

"Out of respect for a lot of the guys that are leaving, we want to play well for them.

"And it's our last chance to put your hand up to potentially tour in the summer.

"It might look like a bit of a dead rubber, but we're certainly desperate to get another good win hopefully win the 1872 Cup - something that's evaded us over the last couple of years, so it should be a good game."