MISTAKEN IDENTITY HEINEKEN CUP: GLASGOW HEINEKEN CUP: GLASGOW

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Jan 20, 2008 | by Alasdair Reid

IF there is any truth in the credit card advertisement's claim that the world is a harmonious balance of smart and dumb things, then some pretty clever stuff must have been going on in some far- flung places to give Glasgow licence to indulge in the sort of crass and jaw-dropping recklessness that gifted Saracens their 21-17 victory at Firhill on Friday night.

After all, it would take something more than a moderately bright idea to offset the calamitous moment, just four minutes into the game, when Hefin O'Hare dithered over the seemingly simple act of touching the ball down in his in-goal area and allowed Saracens winger Richard Haughton to race in for the opening try.

And surely it was an act of considerable genius that tipped the scales so far in the smart direction that Glasgow scrum-half Sam Pinder was obliged to restore equilibrium with a pass that was about as easy to read as a Janet and John primer and was duly intercepted by Glen Jackson for the English side's second try just before half- time.

Such lapses would be maddening enough in any normal context, but they crushed the spirits on an evening when Glasgow had drawn a crowd of 5,213 to watch a game billed as the most important of their history. The attendance was apparently their record in the professional era, so it was galling to witness howlers from the schoolboy end of the amateur spectrum.

The consequence for Glasgow was that their dream of a place in the last eight of the Heineken Cup was dashed on the rocks of their own hamfistedness. That honour was duly taken by Saracens, a side which has some distance to go before it can be considered a giant of the European game, on the strength of a performance that was diligent, but not much else. Saracens brought a smattering of star names to Firhill, but their footsoldiers won them the game.

And yet credit must still be given to Glasgow for getting themselves into the position, rare indeed for Scottish sides in recent years, of entering the last match of the tournament's pool stages with a real chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. In truth, Glasgow's best performances had been in the earlier matches, particularly their home victory against Biarritz, and they could easily have gone on to reach the knockout stages had they sustained the form they showed then.

Glasgow were also critically undermined by the injuries that robbed them of their first-choice and massively experienced midfield of Andy Henderson and Daryl Gibson cruelly in Gibson's case, as the former All Black withdrew a few hours before kick-off creating gaps that they were conspicuously unable to plug.

But there was a worryingly naive look to some of their forward play, particularly at the breakdown where Saracens' Richard Hill was immense in slowing the flow of possession to a snail's pace.

Where now for Glasgow?

The salt in their wounds is a fixture list that runs out of steam as the Magners League weaves in and out of the Six Nations championship over the next two months. If the crowd at Firhill was a commercial triumph, it is also a commercial catastrophe that Glasgow's next game there is not for another six weeks hardly the sort of scheduling that gets spectators into the habit of turning up to watch.

Addressing that problem is the most urgent issue for the Unions who effectively own the League.

None of which makes the job of Glasgow coach Sean Lineen any easier. In a sport of girners, Lineen is a refreshingly upbeat exception, but even he struggled to find the positive after Friday's defeat.

The next few months could be a tough old slog.

"It's criminal really, " he said.

"The guys are frustrated, they're down. Our skill level at times let us down, although I think we are moving in the right direction. Small steps, but we could have won that game if we hadn't gifted them one of those two tries." Maybe so, but the game's what-ifs also included the moment when Haughton was held up over the line by Dan Parks as he went in search of his second try, and a howler of a knock-on by Saracens full-back Brent Russell when he had a clear run to the line.

Unlucky as Lineen might consider his side to have been, Saracens are just as entitled to believe they should have won by a comfortable margin.

"At the moment we're just making far too many errors, " admitted Lineen. "That sums it up. It's individual mistakes we're making and we need to iron those out. The players have had a good chat again, but it's all about winning and we came up short." In addressing those shortcomings, Lineen will also have to cope with the disruption of losing a core group of senior players to international duties. That issue may not be so critical as it affects almost every other side in the Magners League, but it is still a hugely unsatisfactory situation for a coach who wants to create some continuity.

So what are his aims now?

"We want to win every game in the Magners League, " he said. "What we need to do now is regroup, look at the players we've got for the next three games against Llanelli, Ospreys and Leinster, and make sure we move forward.