Head coach Franco Smith admitted he was “frustrated” after Glasgow Warriors fell to a second defeat of pre-season against Connacht.
The Warriors boss said the 28-21 defeat was a “classic pre-season" encounter.
Smith said: “A lot of players have had the chance to play between the two games. Some of the rust had to come off some of the boys who had been off.
“As we progressed in the second part of the game it got better and better. We were just inaccurate, losing the ball, which led to a lot of defensive sets in the first part of the game.
“The objectives were achieved. We didn’t want to lose the game, to be honest, but in saying that we made a lot of tackles.
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"There was a lot of good defensive sets and new players had to know the intensity of our game model.
“I can’t say I’m unhappy. But I’m a little bit frustrated because we’re not there yet. It’s the first time they’ve won it, we must understand. There’s a lot of boys still to come in.”
Smith also revealed Kyle Rowe, who went off with a rib injury early on, is likely to miss the season opener against Ulster in two weeks’ time.
The Warriors boss added: “Kyle popped cartilage between the ribs. That's a three-week thing usually, two to three-week thing."
But there was better news for Gregor Brown, who limped off late on after scoring the Warriors’ third try.
Smith said: "Gregor's got a stiff neck. He will recover in 10 days easily.”
While judging the performance as a “five out of 10” overall, Smith said there was no cause for concern after two pre-season defeats on the bounce.
He said: “The set-piece was good both sides of the ball. I thought we should have scored a last try from a maul.
“Our breakdowns were alright - they were definitely better than against Zebre. I thought our ball-retention was OK.
“Our attack was not firing yet, but that is understandable. It was the first time against opposition with a bit of line speed.
“It was good to see how we unravelled them in the last 15 minutes, which is important from the fitness perspective.
“I’m happy with the defence. We gave away too many metres here and there, but in general I thought we defended well against a well-organised team.”
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