Glasgow Warriors 19-28 Northampton Saints: Hosts overwhelmed in Champions Cup opener

Ollie Smith's try was too little too late for Glasgow

Glasgow Warriors endured a chastening start to their European Champions Cup campaign as they were beaten by Northampton Saints at Scotstoun.

Franco Smith's men blazed out of the blocks with a Sebastian Cancelliere score, but Saints responded strongly as Courtney Lawes' first club try in five years and Tommy Freeman's double helped open a 17-point interval lead.

Fin Smith took his penalty haul to three to further extend the gap before Ollie Smith crossed and a penalty try followed in a late Glasgow rally.

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Glasgow might have had a dream beginning when Cancelliere intercepted Alex Mitchell to run away to score, but for the home side, defending a stellar record in their own place, it was a thimbleful of joy in a half that saw them routed.

The visitors were exceptional; direct, slick, accurate and relentless. What a storming start to their Champions Cup and what a reality check for Glasgow who have been going well in the URC on the back of making Scotstoun a fortress. No more. This was a desperate disappointment for Smith and his players.

Northampton blew through the guts of Glasgow from the moment they went behind. Freeman and Fraser Dingwall were a constant threat in midfield and their forwards took Glasgow's boys to the cleaners time and again.

One of them was Lawes, who levelled things after a dozen minutes. The score was Northampton in microcosm. Quick thinking in the beginning, an initial blast from Freeman, speedy ball at the breakdown and they were away again. Dingwall drew his man and shipped it to George Hendy who did likewise. The wing found Lawes and over he went. Clinical.

Smith added the conversion, but Northampton were only getting going. A penalty from the fly-half made it 10-5. Scotstoun waited for their forwards to stir, but they showed nothing. No carriers, zero control.

It was Northampton who were doing all the damage. More territory, more excellence in their handling and another score, for Freeman this time. Deserved, too.

Glasgow needed a spark and thought they were going to get it when they got a line-out inside Northampton's 22. They are lethal in those circumstances. Not this time. On a rainy night in Glasgow a lot of line-out ball went askew and this was one of them. A huge waste and it would cost them.

Just before the half hour, Glasgow lost Scott Cummings to the bin when he fell on Alex Waller while descending from the clouds at line-out time. It was tough on the lock, who cannot have known a thing about it. And while he was away, Northampton struck again.

Glasgow's Scott Cummings, left, was harshly sin-binned in the first half

Glasgow's defence of their own line was robust in the early phases but such was Northampton's tempo that the hosts soon ran out of numbers. Mitchell bossed it and Freeman went over for his second of the night. With the conversion, they led by a stunning 22-5.

It could have been more. Glasgow were again put back on their heels at the end of the half, Northampton looking to all the world like they were going to score again.

The Warriors survived and a lusty roar went up from their support. That summed it up. When you are 17 points down at home and you are cheering a turnover of opposition ball on your own line then you know it is a long old night.

The rain continued to fall and so did Glasgow's hopes of a comeback. Northampton were just too ruthless. Smith made it a 20-point game early in the new half and then a 23-point game not long after. It was done at that point, bar the occasional outbreak of narkiness from both camps.

Glasgow did eventually score again, with 10 minutes to play. Smith did it all by himself, chipping down the left wing and galloping on to gather and crash over. Ross Thompson banged over a pearler of a conversion.

In the dying minutes, Glasgow got their line-out maul rumbling at last and got a penalty try out of it. Tarek Haffar, the Northampton prop, saw yellow and the gap narrowed to nine, but it was all too little, too late.

The dejection for Glasgow is that they did not find themselves until the task was all but insurmountable. In the last seconds they had had a penalty in front of the posts. Kick it and they would have had their bonus. Put it to touch and get the try and they would have two losing bonus points. They went with the latter and got neither.

For Northampton the slight downer - and these things are relative - is that they did not land a bonus point. They had to settle for a four-pointer and a well-earned victory in a stadium where not many visiting sides leave with smiles.

'We looked surprised by what Northampton brought' - reaction

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith on TNT: "I'm disappointed with the first half. We looked like we were surprised by what Northampton brought.

"We know we've got to start better, and we've been speaking about it. There's hard work ahead for us. I must compliment them. They stopped our set-piece really well."

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson on TNT: "We knew Glasgow would come out in the second half and put us under tonnes of pressure, and we did well to just about keep them out.

"We were good in the first 30 minutes, and that's not easy to back it up from Saracens. The guys put in a cracking week in training."

Glasgow Warriors: McKay, Cancelliere, Jones, McDowall (c), Smith, Jordan, Kennedy; Bhatti, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Manjezi, Gray, Cummings, Darge, M Fagerson.

Replacements: Turner, McBeth, Sordoni, Williamson, Miller, Vailanu, Afshar, Thompson.

Northampton Saints: Furbank (c), Sleightholme, Freeman, Dingwall, Hendy, F Smith, Mitchell; Waller, Langdon, Hill, Lockett, Moon, Lawes, Scott-Young, Graham.

Replacements: R Smith, Haffar, Davison, Mayanavanua, Pearson, James, Litchfield, Seabrook.

Referee: Luc Ramos (Fra)

Assistant referees: Vivien Praderie (Fra), Jonathan Gasnier (Fra)

TMO: Thomas Charabas (Fra)