Benetton 20-17 Glasgow: Rennie dismisses late penalty miss

  • Published
Benetton expertly disrupted Glasgow's attackImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Benetton expertly disrupted Glasgow's attack in their 20-17 victory

"Other issues" led to Glasgow's Pro14 loss at Benetton and not Brandon Thomson's late penalty miss, says frustrated head coach Dave Rennie.

Thomson, just on as a replacement, had the chance to earn his side a draw in the final minute, but fired wide from in front of the posts.

The 20-17 defeat is Glasgow's third in a row and Rennie thinks his side wasted the chance to end a poor run.

"It shouldn't be coming down to a kick like that," he told BBC Scotland.

"We had a number of opportunities in both halves and didn't turn it into points.

"We made a lot of handling errors, as we have in the last two weeks. It's a combination of that and some of our decision making."

Glasgow led 14-12 at the break as Sam Johnson scored one try and set up George Horne for another. But Benetton, who have now won their last four Pro14 matches, scored three of their own, all from close range.

But the visitors squandered opportunities to score, as Adam Hastings passed forward to Niko Matawalu, who would have had an easy run-in, and prop Alex Allan was somehow held up over the try line.

And despite having significantly less possession and territory, Benetton expertly disrupted Glasgow's attack.

"We lost the collisions, we lost the battle of body heights," Rennie said. "There were various times where we had 15 phases plus, but eventually it broke down. You've got to give credit to Benetton."

Glasgow next face Cardiff Blues in the penultimate round of European Champions Cup pool matches, and still have the chance to qualify for the knockout phase.

They beat the Welsh side 29-12 away from home earlier in the competition but Rennie says his team have "certainly got to get better" to produce the same result at Scotstoun next Sunday.

"Cardiff are a very good side and are playing some good footy," he added. "We need to be able to hang on to the ball for long periods and we need to defend a lot better."