As missed opportunities go it took a bit of beating as Glasgow Warriors proved unable to register the maximum point win that could have seen them close in on Saracens at the top of their Champions Cup pool on Saturday.

Before, during and after their encounter with French side Lyon everything seemed to work in their favour.

• They had run in the four tries necessary to secure a bonus point in Lyon in their previous match, the second away game in succession that they had done so in the course of the campaign, so could be expected to do the same at home.

• Lyon went into this game with no motivation, having lost their first three matches, rendering them incapable of mounting any sort of challenge to reach the knockout stages.

• Glasgow took the lead after just 44 seconds and registered the second of the four tries they needed with close to an hour of the match remaining, an 18-0 lead appearing to have put the outcome beyond doubt.

• Lyon then had a man red carded with 11 minutes of the match remaining, more than sufficient time to register any scores still required.

In spite of everything that was in their favour, however, there was mitigation for their failure to be considered in the inherent disadvantage they must deal with in having to play their home games in the inhospitable Scottish climate.

Conditions at Scotstoun are rarely ideal for the type of game Glasgow prefer to play, wind and rain frequently inhibiting their ambition, but on Saturday it was an all-pervading cold that effectively froze their effort after that initial burst.

Just how inhibiting that proved to be was best summed up by the member of the home team who has most opportunity to keep warm in seeking to be at every breakdown while urging his pack to ever greater effort and seeking to keep the backs involved.

“I've just sat in a bath for 10 minutes to get warm,” he said when he finally re-emerged from the sanctuary of the Scotstoun dressing room.

The English-born, Scottish international scrum-half has been in Scotland for five years since moving back to his mother’s homeland from the relative balminess of England’s south-east so has had some ugly days and nights to contend with at Scotstoun down the years, but Saturday’s hail and sleet were more debilitating than anything previous.

“That's probably the coldest I've ever played in.” The rain was persistent throughout. The wind wasn't too bad, it was just constant rain and how cold it was.

“It was a very stop-start game, especially for the outside backs. Our wingers were definitely feeling it. Then, when you get a touch and you're cold, it isn't ideal when you're having to go into contact.”

In that context, then, there was satisfaction at having got the essential job of claiming the win done, not least since pool leaders Saracens were also unable to claim a bonus point in Cardiff, so did not pull any further clear.

“There were a few errors but we came away with four points in those conditions. As we said in the changing room, we'd rather be freezing and have won than be on the other end of the result,” said Price.

It was an afternoon on which their opponents made a mockery of pundits’ pre-match suggestions that they would fail to respect the tournament and would merely go through the motions, having already been knocked out, their powerful set-piece play in particular causing problems throughout and Glasgow ultimately had cause to be grateful for the way they managed to perform before the cold started seeping into their bones.

“We obviously came out the blocks flying and scored in the first minute, but Lyon are a good side and their position in their domestic league shows that,” Price said, referring to the try registered just 44 seconds into proceedings after his half-back partner Adam Hastings made a blistering break, before Stuart Hogg’s delicately weighted grubber put Niko Matawalu in behind the defence.

“The start we had was pretty good and we got 18 points up. You have to win the game, but we put ourselves in a good position by getting two tries in the first 20 minutes.”

The Fijian also claimed the second of those, the same trio combining a Hogg picked the right angle to take Hastings inside pass, then linked with Matawalu as he came in off his wing to apply the finish.

Hastings also having kicked two penalties by then, making it an 18-0 advantage, a four-try bonus point at that point, but to their credit Lyon’s pride kicked in and they were the better side thereafter, albeit never able to make their hosts properly nervous.

“We were the same playing Exeter at the end of last year's competition. When you have nothing to play for you're just as dangerous because there are guys getting games that maybe wouldn't (at other times) They kind of have a licence to throw it about,” price observed.

“That's what we spoke about during the week. We knew they weren't going to come here and roll over for us. We were very much switched on.

“Coming out at the start of the second half, our discipline allowed them to get into our zone and they came away with the first points of the half. That made it interesting as any team will get a bit of momentum off the back of that. It made for a closer second half than what we wanted, but I felt we always had them at arm's length.”

They did that and for all that they were confined to just one more score, a second half Hastings penalty, their defence also asked most of the questions asked of it on a day when the biggest disappointment was the loss to injury of George Turner, just days after fellow international hooker Fraser Brown underwent the surgeon’s knife.

That apart, having defied elements as much as opposition on Saturday, all looks set fair for the remaining Champions Cup ties in January, a rare place in the quarter-finals now within reach… once they can feel their fingers again.