Warriors make life difficult for themselves but keep on track
Glasgow 26 Perpignan 18
ON a rather surreal night at Scotland’s national stadium, Glasgow Warriors capitalised on their “home” advantage – they do know the venue better than their opponents – to secure a bonuspoint win which keeps them on track to qualify for the knock- out stages of the Challenge Cup this season.
The match was moved to Murrayfield on Wednesday evening due to the frozen pitch at Scotstoun, and only 671 die- hard supporters braved the M8 to cheer their team on.
Those hardy souls were rewarded with a win, and their side played some nice rugby at times – but they also made life hard for themselves.
Warriors started brightly, playing with tempo to dominate territory and possession, but a lack of precision inside Perpignan’s 22 meant they failed to make it count on the scoreboard until the 18th minute.
For the fourth time in the match, Duncan Weir kicked a penalty into the corner rather than go for the posts, and after pulling in the opposition defence with the line- out drive, the ball was transferred to the opposite touchline, with slick hands sending Rufus McLean over unchallenged.
Weir fired home the conversion, and Warriors were soon back on the attack, with Richie Gray stealing a line- out just inside enemy territory, and Sione Vailianu and Huw Jones – Glasgow’s two most prominent runners – making ground, before another ruck penalty was sent to the corner once again.
Glasgow were keen to repeat the trick of a few minutes earlier, but the maul was collapsed and when the ball was sent in- field Sione Tuipulotu had to check his stride, but he had the wherewithal to send an excellently weighted chip ahead into the in- goal area, which Jones tracked down to claim his second try in as many weeks after recovering from the back injury which side- lined him for the first three months of the season.
Warriors then lost their focus, falling into the trap of reacting to Perpignan niggling, and they paid a price when Tuipulotu either threw a
loose off- load or dropped the ball, it was hard to tell, which allowed visiting captain Mathieu Acebes to streak up the left touchline, then collected his own kick ahead, and Jake McIntyre floated through three Warriors tacklers to score a few phases later. The conversion was missed.
The Warriors squad members not in the match- day 23 were enjoying a night out, scooping some beers and making a pretty good fist of bridging the noise gap created by a lack of ticket holders making the 40- mile
trip east for the game for most of the first half, but they went very quiet during the last 10 minutes of the first half as their team struggled to re- assert themselves on the pitch.
After a scrappy start to the second half, Perpignan narrowed the gap to six points when centre Dorian Laborde kicked the goal following Vailanu obstruction, and it went from bad to worse for Warriors just two minutes later when replacement scrum- half Sadek Degmache spotted that there was a numerical mis- match on the short side of a ruck on halfway and scampered clear, before sending a well- timed pass to send Lucas Dubois home.
Laborde drilled home the conversion to edge Perpignan into a single- point lead, and it was time for Glasgow to get back in the game. To their credit, they did.
Warriors powered deep into Perpignan territory and forced their opponents to concede a series of penalties close to their line, before
English referee Anthony Woodthorpe lost patience and sent second- rows Tristian Labouteley and Posolo Tuilagi to the sin- bin in quick succession, and with the second of those offences he also awarded a penalty try for a collapse.
Back in front and with two extra men, Warriors really should have pushed on for breathing space and the bonus- point try, but they started playing headless chicken rugby, and a second Laborde penalty made it a three- point game with six minutes to play.
Fortunately for Glasgow, that is as close as the French side got, and Warriors once again knuckled down to get that bonus point when some powerful driving play from the pack followed by good hands sent Sebastian Cancelliere over.
Warriors lost their focus and fell into the trap of reacting to Perpignan niggling