DANNY Wilson is confident that Glasgow’s humiliation in Treviso at the weekend was a one-off, and is satisfied that his players have the correct self-critical attitude to ensure there is no repetition.

The Warriors lost 46-19 to Benetton on Saturday in their opening Rainbow Cup match, and although that scoreline is startling enough in itself, it does not begin to tell the story of a match in which the visitors lacked energy and enthusiasm. However, a long squad meeting appears to have persuaded the head coach that the players have accepted responsibility for their shortcomings.   

“We’ve all got to take responsibility for that performance - everyone involved and first and foremost myself,” Wilson said yesterday. “I think I was probably shell-shocked because I didn't see it coming. That's why I'm confident it's a one-off. 

“I was pretty shell-shocked after the game, and the players were similarly, and spoke about it honestly in the changing room. Then we’ve come in today and had quite a long, drawn-out meeting. We’ve spent a lot longer reviewing the footage than we normally would, and we’ve done a lot of soul-searching - we didn’t see that coming.

“But at the same time, we’ve won three out of the last five games and we trained really well last week - that was the surprising thing about it. We were going in thinking we were going to play some decent rugby like we did against them at home, but that wasn’t the case. We all take full responsibility for a performance that was unacceptable.”

The loss at the Stadio Monigo was far from the first time that Glasgow have played badly this season, their first under Wilson. But in some previous instances there were extenuating circumstances such as a long list of absentees due to injuries or international
duties. The concerning thing about Saturday was the fact that Wilson had selected a strong squad for the game, with senior players such as Fraser Brown and Ryan Wilson, Sam Johnson and Rob Harley all there to lend leadership. However, he refused to apportion blame for the debacle, preferring to emphasise the need for the squad as a whole to learn from what went wrong and ensure there is no recurrence. 

“It’s a tough day,” the coach continued. “It’s the first time this season I’ve felt like that and I think everybody has felt like that. I know we’ve had some tough games and some tough things that have gone on this season, but the weekend was different. It was disappointing. There’s a lot that’s happened in the room and it will stay in the room, but a lot of tough conversations and a lot of honesty, and [we] know full well that we can’t let a performance like that ever happen again.

“What I said to them was we have to draw a line under it. We have to move on. We’ve had a bombshell game, we’ve had a very disappointing, very unacceptable performance that lacked energy, that lacked work rate, as well as a lot of skill errors as we saw. And those things go hand in hand. 

“So we have to draw a line under it and move on, but before we do, we have to face it, we have to front it, and accept the responsibility. Every team has that really bad day, and we certainly had it at the weekend, but it was within our control.

“The mindset for that game probably wasn't where it needed to be. We had the perfect storm of conceding a couple of early scores which got us in a place where we were chasing the game and it went against us. You do get those days. There's no excuse for that, but it was a really bad day.

“We’re obviously going through a season of ups and downs and changes, and we’re looking to develop a number of players at the moment who are starting to come through. I think that bodes well for the long-term future. 

“There are a few people leaving and a few coming in, and that has its upheaval in year one. We've had the same with staff, but long-term we will hopefully get the success we want to be part of.”