Gregor Townsend has called on his Glasgow Warriors side to use their performance against Northampton Saints as inspiration to kick on for the rest of the season despite defeat ending their European campaign.

A late try from Harry Mallinder saw Saints run out 19-15 winners to end the Scottish side's hopes of reaching the next stage of the European Champions Cup.

Despite feeling disappointed by the result, coach Townsend believes his men can use their display as a platform to kick on as they defend their PRO12 title.

He told Warriors' website: "I feel for our players as they put a huge amount of effort in today. They took the game to Northampton in attack and I thought our defence was outstanding

"We're out of Europe now and it's disappointing but we had put ourselves in a difficult position losing at home to Northampton earlier in the season.

"We were more accurate than last week and we got better during the game, and that put us in a winning position. our set-piece was excellent and we improved at defending their maul in the second-half.

"However, when you give a team with such a good line-out drive so many opportunities then you give them a chance of scoring tries, which is what happened on a couple of occasions.

"There were some avoidable mistakes that gave back momentum to Northampton, so there are a number of areas to improve over the next few weeks.

"But what was pleasing tonight was the attitude and belief from the players who fought so hard to try and get a win. We have to build on this over the next few weeks and months as we approach some very big games for the club."

Glasgow's final Euro fixture comes against Racing 92 at Rugby Park and Townsend won't accept anything less than a full effort from his side.

He added: "Next week is an important game for us as we want to put in a good performance for our supporters, who have had some disruption this season. A quality playing surface and a quality oppositon should bring out the best in the squad."