Warriors in bizarre kit row after Cardiff win
GLASGOW WARRIORS put their European hopes back on track with a bonus-point win in Cardiff – but a shirt row overshadowed the shift put in on the pitch.
Both teams wore light blue kits with Blues fullback Gareth Anscombe describing the clash as a “disgrace”.
If the shirt clash was hard for spectators, TV commentators and viewers, it was plainly confusing on the pitch and hardest of all for the fullbacks – Glasgow also singled out Tommy Seymour as the player most affected.
EPCR cleared the teams to play in those kits after comparing the two, neither of the clubs realised the full extent of the clash until they were on the pitch.
Glasgow coach Dave Rennie said: “I spoke to our manager about it at half-time. The gear gets sent in, they looked at our colours, they looked at their colours and decided t h e r e wasn’t a clash.”
GLASGOW’S need for speed sent then surging back into European contention, the pace of attack and defence too much for Cardiff Blues to live with in a 29-12 bonus-point victory for the Scots.
Sparked by man-of-thematch Adam Hastings, Glasgow were creative and sharp in slicing through the Blues defence, while their line speed in defence meant they were able to cut down the home side’s space when they had the ball.
If Glasgow were deflated by the opening defeat to Saracens and bitter about some of the decisions, they bottled that determination not to leave anything to chance this time round.
There is still a mighty tough road ahead to qualification, but the Blues’ opening win in Lyon will be an extra source of hope.
Glasgow exploded out of the blocks, slick with ball in hand to lay down a strong marker.
They attacked left through Huw Jones and DTH van der Merwe, then a bit of power up the middle through Fraser Brown and Jonny Gray before Hastings found a gap looping round to reach out for the line. The outside half missed the conversion, but was straight back into the game from the kick off keeping hold of possession and launching an attack from deep inside the Glasgow half.
Again they used width, going right and then Brown bringing it back left to release van der Merwe. He traded passes with Hastings and then had the pace to finish the move with a second excellent try. This time Hastings added the conversion and after a mere four minutes of the game Glasgow had opened up a 12-point lead.
The Blues fought back, using their scrum as a main weapon to earn penalties but kicking for the corner proved fruitless against a determined Glasgow defence. With those chances for the home side to get on the scoreboard having been passed up, it was Glasgow who extended their lead through the boot of Hastings.
Glasgow may have started at a sprint, but both sides realised they had 80 minutes to play and the pace slowed down. The Blues nearly got a crucial score just before half time, launching n attack down the left through former Edinburgh wing Jason Harries.
When the ball went right Glasgow looked to mark more dangerous runners than Dillon Lewis, which allowed the prop to slice clear forcing a scrambling defence to get back to cover.
In the end Sam Johnson, newly named in the Scotland squad, was quick to snuff out the attack and Glasgow were able to protect their lead.
In comparison to the start of the first half, Glasgow started slowly at the start of the second half – it took them two and half minutes to score their first try.
Again they were attacking with width, van der Merwe came off his wing and went right, round Blues outside half Jarrod Evans before going a pass back inside for scrum half Ali Price to finish off another fine move.
That stung a response from the Blues, Gareth Anscombe threatening from full back, Lewis keeping the move going and then Evans chipping the ball over the defence for right wing Aled Summerhill to score. Anscombe narrowly missed the conversion from the right touchline but the Blues were back in it.
But Glasgow sealed the game and earned a bonus point with the best try of the lot – quite an accolade given the quality of the first three – when Jonny Gray finished off a superb 95-metre move.