The GUINNESS PRO12 leaders failed to emulate that intensity in the second 40 - though Adam Ashe did go on to score his first try for the club - as Gareth Davies and Dan Fish replied for the visitors before the game finished 36-17 to Glasgow.
And while the result was a pleasing one for the Scotstoun faithful and boosted the Warriors' bid for a second consecutive home semi-final, Townsend admits the way his side finished the game was not befitting of title contenders.
"We're disappointed by our second-half performance - we need to set ourselves higher standards," Townsend told the BBC.
"Cardiff played really well and had most of the ball in the second half, but we did make it quite easy for them.
"There were a lot of changes, there were players who hadn't played for weeks and months and a lot of them were coming onto the field at the same time.
"Overall though we are delighted to get the bonus point.
"I thought Cardiff in the first 20 minutes made it very hard for us - they defended really well and it took us a while to break them down.
"We had to be very accurate and when we did that led to tries. We just have to keep on defending and keep on playing."
Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12
Guinness PRO12 Warriors News
63x46.png){kind=logo}