Lights go out for plucky Warriors
THE lights went out on Glasgow Warriors in every sense last night despite a spirited fightback by Gregor Townsend’s men.
A floodlight failure 90 seconds from the end of the contest, with Leinster hanging on to a one-point lead, provided a remarkable finale.
Referee Marius Mitrea consulted with officials and team captains and waited more than a quarter of an hour for the lights to come back on.
But, when the game eventually resumed, a Warriors side who had been trailing for much of the game before being revitalised by replacements Ali Price and Finn Russell, were unable to snatch a dramatic victory.
Glasgow, whose play-off hopes were as good as over in any case, had been full of intent from the outset. But three minutes of incessant pressure typified their bluntness all season and they had to be content with a penalty from Peter Horne.
Leinster, by contrast, only managed two attacks in the opening 14 minutes — but came away with tries from both. The opener was created by two players leaving the club in the summer, with Zane Kirchner setting up Dominic Ryan after five minutes.
The tight margins in the game were emphasised when Leonardo Sarto’s touchdown for Glasgow was whistled back for a knock-on.
Adam Byrne then looked guilty of the same offence but got the okay from the TV match official and Rory O’Loughlin raced through to make it 12-3.
Peter Horne pulled back a penalty to make it 12-6, but it was cancelled out seven minutes later when Warriors coughed up a penalty and Byrne made them pay.
Leinster stepped up a gear, Byrne opting for the corner from a penalty and a superb rolling maul was finished by Peter Dooley.
Byrne extended their interval lead to 23-6 with a good penalty from the right.
Warriors started well in the second half when Adam Ashe squeezed over after some patient build-up.
Horne cut the gap to 23-13 after 47 minutes to give the Scots some hope. He then reduced the deficit further with a penalty, but Sarto was sent to the sin bin for a no-arms tackle.
Leinster delivered a blow when Byrne set up Kirchner for a try to extend the lead to 28-16.
Warriors responded superbly, with the introduction of Price and Russell adding penetration.
A break by Price was finished by Lee Jones in the left corner, with Russell’s conversion making it 28-23 with 15 minutes remaining.
It got even better when Russell swivelled his way over the line under the posts, with his conversion pushing Glasgow 30-28 in front.
However, Leinster hit back and Joey Carbery kicked them in front with a penalty from the right before the lights went out.
‘We were more disappointed with the first half rather than the last five minutes,’ said Glasgow boss Townsend. ‘We didn’t get ourselves in place defensively, but in the second half I was very proud of the way the guys improved in defence and also kept having a go.
‘We attacked pretty well in the first half but we didn’t finish off our opportunities in the 22. We did that in the second half and it got us into a winning position. I thought we were going to win but it wasn’t to be.’