GREGOR TOWNSEND has admitted that Glasgow's pride will be on the line when they head to Castres for the return leg of their Heineken Cup double header this Sunday.

Glasgow lost 9-6 to the French Top 14 outfit at Scotstoun in the first meeting of the two sides as they slipped to the third loss of a Pool Four campaign that has, once again, ended any hope for Warriors to be in European competition after Christmas.

Ultimately three penalties from the boot of Rory Kockott may have done for Glasgow, but this defeat was caused by the most dire home bow witnessed by this correspondent.

Now Toony is brutal in his assessment of what is at stake on Sunday at the Stade Pierre Antoine on Sunday.

The Warriors head coach said: "We must go to France and produce a performance that shows what wearing a Glasgow shirt is all about.

"The bottom line is Europe has now gone for another year but what is on the line is our pride.

"We know that Friday was unacceptable. We had the chance to provide a response to the defeat in Munster and we just did not take it, we let the Glasgow jersey and the support down badly.

"We know that we are out of the tournament and that is very disappointing, but at the same time we have to have to go out there and show what Glasgow Warriors are all about.

"Mistakes happen but the level we produced on Friday was simply not on. On top of that, Castres did not have to play well to win and that is very annoying."

Worryingly ahead of the reverse encounter in France, Townsend is totally correct.

While three missed French penalties allowed Glasgow to turn around at the break in front, after the interval Glasgow were simply the architects of their own doom.

A stunning inability to get the basics right totally undermined them as an attacking force. There is no point in trying to sugar coat it.

To make matters worse, skipper Al Kellock was forced from the fray with a nasty cut that will surely rule him out of the return.

Now, though, all thoughts must be focused on producing a performance and a result that will not have a damaging knock-on to the PRO12 campaign.

With the annual 1872 Cup derby double header with Edinburgh next up for Glasgow, they must somehow grind out a performance against, what on Friday night's showing was a fairly limited, route one French outfit.

That will stop a three-game losing run and even worse a worrying drop in performance levels.

Townsend admits that he is facing the most challenging week of his tenure.

"Yes it will be a challenging week and it will be about getting the balance right in how I try and get the best from them," he said.

"But that is the role of the head coach in this situation, to make sure they do themselves justice.

"We did not do that on Friday and it is vital we do in the return."