Glasgow Warriors 35 Connacht 22
It was only a matter of time before Glasgow Warriors achieved the win they needed to secure themselves a home semi final in the Pro14 playoffs and on Friday night the Scottish side duly delivered the vital result in front of a packed Scotstoun stadium.
After a couple of poor performances Warriors rediscovered their confidence to post a performance of fast running rugby which for the most part Connacht were unable to match. Connacht, however, showed that their forward strength was there, two of their three scores carved out by the big men.
But overall this was a continuation of Connacht’s miserable season. They could make little headway against the Glasgow defence save for a late score by their replacement scrum half Caolin Blade.
Yet it was Connacht who pounced first, the visitors taking barely a minute to strike, a driving maul from a penalty-created lineout exposing a Glasgow weakness to create a try for prop Finlay Bealham.
Glasgow’s response was equally immediate. From the set-piece Warriors’ wing DTH Van der Merwe broke through midfield to create a run-in for Stuart Hogg, outside half Peter Horne adding the conversion goal.
Then when Jarrad Butler was penalised for over-vigorous play, Horne added a further three points for a 10-5 lead. The outside half, selected ahead of Finn Russell, confirmed his kicking form with two further penalty goals to stretch his side’s advantage to eleven points.
A penalty goal by Carty pulled three points back for Connacht but again Glasgow’s response was brutally swift as Horne showed soft hands to put Alex Dunbar on a try-scoring run, the outside half providing the extras.
Glasgow, playing non-stop attacking rugby, were rewarded for the final time in the first half with a close range try by their hooker Fraser Brown, the score converted by Horne to give Warriors a 30-8 interval lead.
Warriors delighted their fans further at the start of the second half with a spectacular score started in their own 22m area and ending with a Dunbar and Matt Fagerson breaking the defence to put Henry Pyros on course to the line. The Warriors’ scrum half was tackled by Kieran Marmion but managed to touch the base of the posts to score the bonus try.
Connacht came close to scoring from a driven lineout only for the ball to be held up over the line. A series of five metre scrums followed ending with Warriors’ loosehead being sent to the sin bin after a series of collapses. But from the ensuing penalty line-out Connacht turned over possession and a prime opportunity for points was lost.
Connacht finally got their due reward but it came not from driving forward play but by putting the ball wide to replacement Stacey Ili who searing break created a try for substitute Caolin Blade, Carty converting.
The visitors’ late surge took its toll on Glasgow as Warriors collected a second yellow card, this time shown to Rob Harley and from the ensuing scrum a penalty try to complete the scoring.
Scoring sequence – 1 min: F Bealham try, 0-5; 3 mins: S Hogg try, 5-5; P Horne con, 7-5; 7 mins: Horne pen, 10-5; 13 mins: Horne pen, 13-5; 21 mins: Horne pen, 16-5; 24 mins: J Carty pen, 16-8; 26 mins: A Dunbar try, 21-8; Horne con, 23-8; 41 mins: F Brown try, 28-8; Horne con, 30-8; Half-time 43 mins: Pyrgos try, 35-8; 69 mins: Blade try, 35-13, Carthy con, 35-15; 76 mins: pen try, 35-22.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: S Hogg, T Seymour, A Dunbar, S Johnson, D van der Merwe; P Horne, H Pyrgos; A Allan, F Brown, Z Fagerson, S Cummings, J Gray, R Harley, C Gibbins (capt.), M Fagerson.
Replacements: G Stewart for Brown (56 mins), J Bhatti for Allan (69 mins), S Halanukonuka for Fagerson (59 mins), K McDonald for Cummings (19 mins), C Fusaro for Gray (41 mins), A Price for Pyrgos (64 mins), F Russell for Horne (64 mins), N Matawalu for D van der Merwe (37 mins).
CONNACHT: D Leader, N Adeolokun, B Aki, P Robb, M Healy, J Carty, K Marmion D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham; U Dillane, Q Roux, E Masterson, J Muldoon for J Butler (capt.) E McKeon.
Replacements : S Delahunt for McCartney (52 mins), P McCabe for Buckley (50 mins), C Carey for Bealham (64 mins), G Thornbury for U Dillane (64 mins) J Muldoon for J Butler (64 mins), C Blade for K Marmion (60 mins), T Farrell for P Robb (46 mins), S Ili for M Healy (29 mins).
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU).
