Hogg dishes out the pain to Warriors
Former Glasgow stars Hogg and Gray dish out the pain as Chiefs go on rampage
AS Glasgow Warriors watched their house become engulfed in flames, it was particularly painful that it should be two of their former players who were stood holding a can of petrol and a box of matches.
Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray, two Scotland stalwarts and one-time Warriors who have now elevated themselves to a whole new level since leaving their boyhood club.
Together they scored two of Exeter’s six tries as the reigning English and European champions f l exed their muscles in this pitifully one-sided Champions Cup opener at fortress Sandy Park.
For Glasgow, it was embarrassing in the end. They had no answer to Exeter’s array of firepower, both up front and in the backs.
Other than a penalty in the opening couple of minutes, Danny Wilson’s side never even looked likely to score a point. They were nilled. Swatted aside as nothing more than an irrelevance.
Exeter’s 2,000 fans must have felt like they were watching a training game. It was men against boys and Rob Baxter’s Chiefs look like they will take some stopping as they seek to defend their crown.
For Glasgow, however, the reality is that they have no business at the top table of European rugby. They can barely win a game in the Pro14, let alone the European Cup.
Hogg and Gray must have felt like they were facing a shadow of their former club. An imposter who, despite welcoming back a host of Scotland internationals, never even laid a glove on the Chiefs.
‘Yeah, it was a tough day — there have been a few of those lately,’ admitted Warriors head coach Wilson. ‘It was very frustrating and very disappointing.
‘If you give ten penalties away in the first half against a team that you want to keep out of your 22, then you’re going to kill yourself.
‘I think we had 37 per cent of the territory and y o u’ r e not going to challenge the European champions with that, while c onceding as many penalties as we gave away.
‘When you are playing this Exeter team, you can’t afford to spend your time stuck in your own 22. This is literally the worst possible team you can do that against.
‘We’ve got a couple of more boys to come back from injury, but we are yet to see if the likes of George Horne and Richie Gray will make it. There are a few more boys we can look at adding and a few different combinations we can look at. But overall we need to improve our performance.’ In Sam Simmonds, Exeter had the game’s outstanding player. Simmonds is the reigning European Player of the Year and, with eight tries, he was the top scorer in this competition last season. He got another yesterday, adding to the six in three games he already has in this season’s Premiership. Those numbers would be impressive for a winger. For a No 8, they are ludicrous. Glasgow started the match reasonably well. After Exeter flyhalf Joe Simmonds had put the ball out on the full s t r ai ght f r om kick- off, a powerful scrum from t he Warriors saw them win a penalty. From just inside the Ex e t e r half, Peter Horne’s kick had the legs to make it but it came back off t he post. In truth, that was as close as
Glasgow ever got tt to E Exeter. t From F there, the Chiefs asserted their authority on the match. It almost seemed like they had taken offence at Glasgow winning the early penalty in the scrum.
Their opening try arrived on 13 minutes and it was vintage Exeter. They have turned the business of scoring tries from close range into an art form — and so it was when Sam Simmonds rumbled over from a line-out maul in the corner.
His brother, Joe, slotted a brilliant conversion from out wide. The Chiefs had their heel pressed on Glasgow’s throat and had no intention of letting up.
After pummelling away on the Warriors’ line, their second try soon arrived. The fact that it was Gray who bulldozed his way over only r ubbed salt in t he wounds. Simmonds again added the extras.
Sam Johnson was sent to the sin bin in the aftermath of the try as Glasgow were punished for repeated infringements at the breakdown.
It was symptomatic of all that was wrong with Glasgow’s performance. They were guilty of some incredibly dumb rugby at ti times, conceding di t ten penalties lti inside the opening half-hour.
Their indiscipline allowed Exeter to pump the ball relentlessly into touch and deep down inside their opponents’ 22.
Glasgow’s afternoon got worse when fly-half Horne had to go off on 35 minutes after taking a nasty blow to the head, with Brandon Thomson coming on as his replacement.
Given the balance of play, it was remarkable that Glasgow were only 14- 0 down at half- time. But Exeter wasted no time in extending their l ead j ust 60 seconds after the break.
Olly Woodburn made a good break but he was aided by some poor missed tackles from Glasgow. He then fed the ball to Hogg who raced over to score in the corner, with Simmonds again converting.
The only question now was how deep Exeter would plunge the knife. In the end, they scored three more tries. Hooker Jack Yeandle got the fourth for the bonus point, before Woodburn finished off a slick counter-attack for number five and Jonny Hill got number six with the final play of the game.