Franco Smith complimented the Bulls for "bringing the fight to us"

Played at Caley Thistle's home ground, 3078 fans watched and enjoyed the action with the Bulls putting on a fine performance after stepping in late to replace Glasgow's original opponents Worcester.

After a tight opening period tries from Johnny Matthews and George Horne, the second converted by Domingo Miotti, and a penalty from Bulls' Richie Simpson had Warriors 12-3 ahead at the break.

Second half tries from Fraser Brown and Jack Dempsey took the score on to 22-3 by the hour mark.

Ayr's spirit an endeavour was rewarded with Jamie Drummond's try, converted by Will Hunt, made it 22-10 and Hunt went on to score his own try, which he converted, to narrow the score further.

The fixture was arranged as part of the celebrations of Highland Rugby Club's centenary and new Glasgow head coach Franco Smith was delighted to have helped out.

Smith told the Press & Journal: "Highland Rugby Club have an excellent facility and they were great with us and it was good to interact with some of their coaches.

"It was good for us to exhibit some of the hard work we've put in and the actions we want from the players. We were really privileged and, hospitality-wise, it was fantastic.

"The players were really excited to come out and play here. The pitch was splendid to play on. We have some serious business next week."

Former Italy coach Smith was full of praise for Ayrshire and was satisfied to have been given a test in his first 80 minutes at the helm.

He added: "I must compliment Bulls for bringing the fight to us. Their motivation was obviously different to ours, but I have to thank them. The effort they put in gave us a real game tonight. I am very happy with that.

"This was a starting point for us in a contact situation. We defended very well in the first half and we drove well. Our kicking was okay. On the attack side, we didn't finish opportunities in the first half.

"It became a little unraveled, with different teams playing in the second half, but credit to the Bulls."

Glasgow's second and final pre-season match sees them host Ulster at Scotstoun next Friday.