There is no room for half-measures in the notoriously harsh French rugby media. Even six stars on the shirt does not exempt you from unfettered criticism, and so it was at Scotstoun, where Glasgow’s first victory in 17 seasons over Stade Toulousain was greeted as nothing less than a “cataclysm” or a “nightmare”.
The knives of recrimination were glinting behind the arras after Toulouse’s 28-21 defeat. There were dark whispers at Midi Olympique of a lasting “resentment caused in the Haute-Garonne”, while L’Equipe also wagged a reproving finger, suggesting the European heavyweights had “crumbled in the rain and wind”.
The Warriors had overturned a 21-0 deficit playing against the elements in the first half to score 28 unanswered points with the wind behind them in the second, and the French fall from grace was brutal. It was as if the Rouge et Noir had stepped off the edge of a hidden precipice after half-time, and veteran Toulousain head coach Ugo Mola held nothing back in his blunt post-match appraisal.
“The impression is that our substitutes didn’t contribute what they were capable of contributing.
“We missed a lot of opportunities in the first half, while Glasgow were very dominant in the second half. The disallowed try in the last minute of the first half cost us dearly, considering the final score.
“After that, up until the 50th minute, we were really in the game; we sensed they were hesitating. We even had that chance at 21-7 when Antoine [Dupont] and Blair [Kinghorn] hesitated, and ultimately, we lost possession at the ensuing ruck.
“We also lost quite a few balls in the contact areas, and our bench didn’t provide what we wanted, particularly in terms of power and movement at the end—that’s obvious.
“Glasgow now holds all the cards to finish top of the pool. It’s a setback.”
The raw stats for the game were remarkable in the circumstances: over 40 minutes of ball-in-play time, with Glasgow building 138 rucks and forcing their esteemed visitors to make 221 tackles in the process. Without knowing the grim weather context in advance, you would think the game had been played in spring sunshine with only a bare murmur of breeze and no rain at all.
Those 22 minutes of active time-of-possession for the home side set the scene for a major battle at the breakdown. Glasgow wanted to keep the ball and wear Toulouse down, the perennial European top dogs wanted to take it from them and feed off the crumbs that fell from the table of the premier possession-based attack in the URC.
There was a large dollop of risk involved, with Glasgow choosing to play into the squall and having to perform so many successful ‘small actions’ accurately just to move the ball a short distance up the field. Toulouse, meanwhile, were able to stoke their pipes and sit back in their meteorological armchairs; sending the hosts tumbling back downfield after every little mis-step in execution.
The risk embraced by Glasgow head coach Franco Smith paid off by the skin of its teeth.
“There was always a strategy behind it,” the South African said. “We were hoping to play against the wind in the first half, with [bench scrum-half] George [Horne] and [forward finisher] Gregor [Brown] coming on in the second. A fresh carrier and breakdown speed going up. A lot of small things clicked.
“Momentum in this game is everything. If you get it, the referee’s outlook changes. We had some very positive actions. The players here are very competitive and they want to make the next step.”
The contest which epitomised the Glasgow spirit-in-the-storm best was the ongoing battle between the Warriors’ attacking cleanout and those two outstanding Toulousain breakdown defenders, Jack Willis and Julien Marchand. The Top 14 produces an unholy number of excellent disruptors at the post-tackle, but Willis and Marchand represent la crème de la crème. Take a look at the raw stats from last year’s Champions Cup.
The French hooker only played about half the minutes of the reigning Top 14 player of the year but the impression he made was very nearly as impactful. When you have two breakdown operators of that quality in the opposition, you have to be aware of their presence at every ruck you set if your attack is to succeed.
Willis and Marchand duly finished the game ranked as the top two players in Opta’s top five per active minute chart, with the Glasgow impact pair mentioned in dispatches by Smith: Brown – carrying and cleaning – and Horne – clearing from the base – not far behind them.
What happened in the second half mattered more than events in the first: Marchand and Willis shared six breakdown turnovers between them, but only one of those pilfers occurred after the 42nd minute. Glasgow gave up all six of the penalties they conceded at the ruck in the first half, and not a single one in the second period. It was quite a turnaround.
Three of the men principally entrusted with the task of removing the twin Toulousain terrors from the scene of the action were Glasgow openside Rory Darge and the Fagerson brothers, Zander and Matt. Between them, the trio authored 74 cleanouts as either the first or second man to arrive in the course of the match, and their success rate improved as the game developed.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
In the first clip, it is Zander versus Willis, in the second it is Matt against Marchand in a mano a mano contest at cleanout time, and the defenders win the battle hands-down on both occasions.
As the second half unwound, the Warriors’ cleanout began to eliminate the double threat at the breakdown with greater efficiency.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
Willis is clipped out of two of the first three rucks by the Glasgow props acting together and Darge, and then Zander Fagerson dumps Marchand conclusively on his backside in the kind of one-on-one battle the Scots were losing earlier in the game. You win that contest, and your backs can play through to a score on the very next phase.
Marchand and Willis drifted from centre to the periphery of the game as the Warriors’ cleanout became progressively more ruthless.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) December 16, 2025
It’s not just the cleanout by Glasgow hooker Gregor Hiddleston [in the white hat] on his opposite number in the first clip, keep your eyes glued to the bottom of the screen as Hiddleston and Zander deliver ‘afters’ to remind Marchand who is really the breakdown boss. The theme of finishing on top of your opponent literally and figuratively is taken to a new level in the second sequence, with Marchand and Willis removed quickly from the contest and the Englishman’s world turned upside down at the final ruck by two Warriors on the warpath!
The rise and rise of Union Bordeaux-Begles and the fall from their previous exalted heights by Stade Toulousain was underlined by the second round of pool matches. UBB have now scored 96 points in two victories home and away, while Toulouse are one from two and face an uneasy wait before the must-win game against Saracens in North London on 9 January. As Mola put it bluntly, “we’ll have to win the next two matches to stay in contention.”
The pattern of the game at Scotstoun could send residual ripples into the forthcoming Six Nations which begins on 5 February, with the visit of Andy Farrell’s Ireland to the Stade de France. Glasgow showed if you can keep the ball in the teeth of ferocious French jackaling and spoiling at the breakdown, you can pull the fangs of the French counter-punching game. The men in green will have reach back into recent rugby memory and starve Les Bleus of possession. If anyone can do it, Ireland can.
Great analysis. The breakdown enabled everything that followed. The couple of times they were in pick and go territory within the 5m line the Glasgow clear out was also used to tie up defenders resulting in the two middle tries. The line breaks for these got them into that zone. I thought Stafford McDowells carries were very effectual. There was one where he could have easily off-loaded to his left but he played the percentage and recycled allowing Glasgow to soon get to that 5m zone and score.
Dupont seemed to be keeping himself out of the physicality (understandably given the layoff) until his team went behind. Also, If Glasgow needed any confirmation that the Touloussaine boys might be out of their comfort zone in the Scottish wind and rain it was the talisman Dupont wearing tights.
Loads of lessons for Ireland indeed. As Ireland tend to prepare very well for the opening big match of the six nations it could get very interesting. Expecting a response to the mauling by SA anyway.
In big international matches in large stadiums, can wind still be a massive factor as it was in this match?