Long before the two-time World Cup winner emerged from the bench for his much-anticipated first run in the white jersey, Dan McFarland's men had led 14-0 but they would manage just a pair of penalties after that initial burst.

Undermined by a proliferation of penalties and missed tackles, Ulster saw their opponents run in five tries over the game's final hour, the last of which in the 71st minute would deny them even the consolation of the losing bonus point.

With a back-row trio that had accumulated a mere seven senior starts between them, and travelling to a ground that hasn't been a particularly happy hunting ground down through the years, there would have been a sense that Ulster would have their work cut out for them in the all-important contact area.

And yet they flew from the traps, showing a physical edge at the breakdown that allowed them to hold onto the ball for long stretches early on.

With debuting number eight James McNabney particularly prominent, the visitors had helped themselves into a two-score lead after only 12 minutes.

Their early enterprise was first rewarded when hooker Tom Stewart mauled his way. across the whitewash.

And with Glasgow's penalty count mounting, it was the set-piece that again set the platform for Ulster, this time John Cooney going over after the forwards had been stopped just short.

Having lost back-up ten Jake Flannery in the warm-up, Ulster would be forced to press scrum-half Nathan Doak into unexpected action when they lost Billy Burns after 20 minutes.

And their lead was halved shortly after when Sean Kennedy wriggled over from close range for a score similar to opposite number Cooney's that preceded it.

The game was level at half-time when, with Ulster now hearing far too much of Ben Whitehouse's whistle, Glasgow eventually forced their way over for a second through hooker George Turner to cap a dominant second quarter.

Half-time did little to halt Glasgow's momentum and, when they took their first lead of the game with half an hour to go, it was a deserved advantage.

Again Ulster's ill-discipline was their undoing with the Warriors able to advance deep into their territory after Will Addison was caught off his feet.

This time the maul was stopped short but, having drawn Ulster narrow, Glasgow worked the ball out wide for Sebastian Cancelliere to go over in the corner.

A mere minute after his introduction, Kitshoff's first act as an Ulster player was to gather under his own posts.

Kieran Treadwell was binned for an infringement in the build-up but the 14 men cut the arrears through a Cooney penalty.

The prolific hooker Johnny Matthews edged Glasgow nine points ahead by running one in from distance and, although a Doak penalty got it back to a one-score game as Treadwell returned, the Scottish hooker scored a more traditional front-row score with nine minutes to go to make the game safe.

GLASGOW WARRIORS: J McKay; S Cancelliere, S Tuipulotu, S McDowall (CAPT), K Rowe; T Jordan, S Kennedy; J Bhatti, G Turner, Z Fagerson; G Peterson, S Cummings; M Fagerson, R Darge, J Dempsey 

Replacements: O Kebble (for Bhatti, 57) J Matthews (for Turner, 57), S Vailanu (for Darge, 57), L Sordoni (for Z Fagerson, 71) R Gray (for Cummings, 71), S Manjezi (for Peterson, 71), D Weir (for Tuipulotu, 71),B Afshar (for Kennedy, 77).

ULSTER: W Addison; R Baloucoune, J Hume, L Marshall, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, T Stewart, T O’Toole; K Treadwell, I Henderson (CAPT); H Sheridan, R Crothers, J McNabney 

Replacements: M Rea (for Sheridan, 12-19, 52), N Doak (for Burns, 19), A O'Connor (for Henderson, 49), S Kitshoff (for O'Sullivan, 49), M Moore (for O'Toole, 49), D Shanahan, (for Cooney, 60), B Moxham (for Marshall, 64) Z Solomon (for Stewart, 71) 

Referee: Ben Whitehouse