GLASGOW WARRIORS assistant coach Kenny Murray has admitted that every Pro14 game his side play in the coming weeks is a “must win” for them.

Warriors missed out on the chance to get their hands on the 1872 Cup on Saturday when they were beaten 29-19 by Edinburgh at Murrayfield, making it 1-1 in the series following Glasgow’s win the previous week.

Warriors have had a less than perfect start to the season having lost five of their nine league games and the defeat to Edinburgh now leaves them languishing in fourth place in their Pro14 conference, a whopping 23 points behind leaders Leinster.

And so things are, admits Murray, getting somewhat desperate as his side attempt to make the play-offs.

“We made it really tough for ourselves losing the points against Edinburgh,” he said.

“Every game is tough now, and every game becomes a bit of a must win for us. We have that desperation for points now.”

All too often, trying too hard can be the downfall of teams. And there is little doubt that the players in the Warriors dressing room know the seriousness of the current situation. But that desperation for points, as Murray described it, will not, he believes, be detrimental to their performances in the coming weeks and in fact, he is optimistic that it will push his side onto play even better. And the less time the players have to dwell on the defeat by Edinburgh, the better.

“The good thing about rugby is that you only have a few days to mull over a defeat and then you are straight back into preparing for the next game,” he said.

“The last two years we have probably been too comfortable going into games, it was such a difference in points advantage whereas now we need the points. Last year was a good example, we needed to win every game in our last 12 games to stay ahead of Munster in our conference. We did that – it was real pressure rugby.

“Now we are in the same boat, we have to win games. The boys react well to that.”

Glasgow committed a number of unforced errors at Murrayfield on Saturday, which gave the home side openings which they took advantage of. Dave Rennie’s men will travel to Italy this weekend to face Benetton Treviso on Saturday and that will not, says Murray, be easy.

“It will be a tough game, “ he said.

“They have been a good side over the last few seasons and this year, at home in particular, they are formidable; they have some good players. We are going to have to be at our best to beat them.

“There are not many teams now that go there expecting to wins, you go there knowing you have to play well to get a result. We have done it in the past so we have to have the confidence we can do that.”

There is a risk that last week’s disappointment seeps into the preparations for Saturday’s match but Murray is confident this will not happen, and that his side will not be dented by a loss of morale this week.

“It is not difficult to lift them,” he said.

“They had a day to mull over it, and once we reviewed the game we were straight into preview, they are always looking ahead. We need to take what we did against Edinburgh, the key thing for us is keeping hold of the ball not turning it over when we head for Treviso. It is not hard to get them back up for the game, it is their job, they know that.”

There are likely to be a number of changes to the side that will line up on Saturday, with a number of players, most notably Adam Hastings, picking up knocks at Murrayfield which may rule them out, with others due to be rested.

However, Murray is confident that the changes to the matchday squad will not cause too much disruption.

“It won’t be an issue,” he said.

“A few guys are on that limit for Scotland managed players but we plan weeks in advance. We knew for this game what the combinations were going to be so we’re well ahead.”