GLASGOW’s opening European Champions Cup match ended in disappointment as they were forced to concede second best to opponents who looked sharper and more composed. They did produce a decent second-half fightback after a very poor first 40 minutes, but never had the platform they needed up front to impose themselves on Northampton.

The Saints, who had also won their opening Pool 3 game against the Scarlets last weekend, now look set to vie with Racing 92 for the one automatic qualification spot. The French side had a commanding lead going into the final stages of their game in Llanelli.

Finn Russell opened the scoring at Scotstoun with a penalty after five minutes, but Northampton soon took the lead after a Garryowen deep into the home 22 evaded Stuart Hogg. The bounce fell kindly for George Pisi, who collected and forced his way over before Stephen Myler added the extra points.

Hooker Pat MacArthur was forced off by injury, meaning a debut for Shalva Mamukashvili. The Georgian and his fellow-forwards were pushed back when the Saints had a put-in on the Glasgow five-metre line, and when the referee awarded a penalty for a collapsed scrum, Myler was on target again to put his team 10-3 ahead.

Things got worse for the Warriors when Ryan Grant was sinbinned just before the 20-minute mark for an offence in the scrum. They got worse again minutes later when Myler made it three out of three with another penalty.

With half an hour played, and just as those three points looked like being all they would concede while a man down, Glasgow conceded a soft try. A Saints attack appeared to have run out of space close to the right touchline, but winger Ah See Tuala forced his way through an attempted tackle by Hogg to claim his team’s second try. Myler’s conversion attempt was wide, but at 18-3 the English team had a commanding lead.

Glasgow needed to score next, and they did five minutes before the break through Peter Horne. No 8 Josh Strauss did well to get the ball away from a retreating scrum, and Horne gathered a pop pass from Russell to finish off the attack. That try, converted by Russell, gave the home team a glimmer of hope, but a stoppage-time penalty from Myler made it 21-10 to Northampton at the break.

Some decent pressure at the start of the second half suggested that a comeback was not beyond Glasgow, but after 53 minutes Tuala grabbed his second try of the night after winning the race to touch down a grubber kick. The conversion was missed, but that still looked very much like game over.

However, minutes after Luther Burrell was yellow-carded, Strauss reduced the deficit with a try after good work by Leone Nakarawa and Russell. The latter missed the conversion, but hopes of a comeback still began to rise.

Again, though, poor lineout play cost Glasgow. In the final ten minutes, with that 11-point gap between the teams, the match lost its zip. At least Northampton were denied the bonus point that a fourth try would have given them, but that was about all Townsend’s team had to be pleased with.

GLASGOW: Tries: Horne, Strauss. Con: Russell. Pen: Russell

NORTHAMPTON: Tries: Pisi, Tuala 2. Con: Myler. Pens: Myler 3.

Glasgow: S Hogg (T Naiyaravoro 52); T Seymour, M Bennett, P Horne (R Vernon 64), S Lamont; F Russell, M Blair (G Hart 74); R Grant (G Reid 52), P MacArthur (S Mamukashvili 8), S Puafisi (Z Fagerson 59), L Nakarawa (T Swinson 69), J Gray, R Harley, S Favaro (R Wilson 52), J Strauss.

Northampton: B Foden; A Tuala (J Elliott 63), G Pisi, L Burrell, G North; S Myler, L Dickson (K Fotuali’i 41); A Waller (E Waller 65), M Haywood, K Brookes (P Hill 65), M Paterson (T Harrison 69), C Day, J Gibson (J Fisher 74), T Wood, S Dickinson. Unused substitutes: M Williams, JJ Hanrahan.

Referee: P Gauzere (France). Attendance: 6,800.