GLEXIT MEANS BREXIT
Warriors all but out of Europe after their Scotstoun stunner
Dave Rennie was as proud as he was peeved as Glasgow left themselves relying on favours to stay in Europe.
The Kiwi’s bruised and battered Warriors went toe to toe with streetwise Exeter in the Champions Cup.
But despite the bonus point they couldn’t snatch the win needed at Scotstoun to spark their bid to reach the knockout stages.
Warriors were left to rue yellow cards in each half for Callum Gibbins and Fraser Brown – Exeter scored three tries with a numerical advantage.
And two huge chances for Huw Jones went begging when the 26-year- old failed to pick up the ball.
Glasgow moved on to 12 points in Pool Two and Rennie admitted being one of the three best runners- up from the five groups looks unlikely.
The Scotstoun head coach said: “We’re disappointed because we did enough to get five points.
“We will see what happens in those other games and find out what we need to do next week. The chances are slim.
“We will assess and go and throw everything at Sale.”
Niko Matawalu’s effort and a brilliant Adam Hastings conversion got Glasgow level heading into the final 10 minutes.
And they partied after Sam Johnson added another try only for the video ref to chalk it off for a forward pass.
Rennie said: “In terms of effort and courage, we were fantastic.
“But we gave away a couple of soft tries at important times. And after we got back on top near the end we didn’t put our foot on their throats.
“The result was not what we wanted but the performance was superb in many ways. We played a lot of good footy. The outcome left me as proud as I was frustrated.”
Rennie reckons the first-half yellow card shown to co- captain Gibbins for an illegal entry to a ruck was key.
He said: “I don’t think there was anything in it and you could see Callum was pretty miffed. I had actually thought the ref was going to send one of their guys to the bin.
“We also lost Fraser to a card later on but that was fair enough because there had been repeated infringements close to our line.”
Glasgow fans couldn’t have imagined a more stunning start as their heroes surged ahead 60 seconds in.
Veteran winger Tommy Seymour sent a perfectly weighed lob into the danger zone, latched on to it himself and dashed over. Adam
Hastings ignored t he sw i r l ing breeze to slot the wide-angled conversion. A
Joe Simmonds penalty repaired some of t he damage for Exeter only for Hastings to carve out the time and space for Jones to crash through two challanges and reach the line. Again the Hastings strike was bang on target.
Groans soon followed as Chiefs scrum-half Nic White snapped up an interception and cruised in under the bar giving Simmonds an easy kick.
Glasgow’s high-risk tactics nearly cost them again when Exeter almost pounced on a blocked Hastings chip.
However, the playmaker soon eased the jitters with a 40-metre penalty midway through the half.
Glasgow suffered a blow with Gibbins’ yellow and, predictably, the Chiefs began to exert territorial pressure as they spurned the chance of three points by opting for an attacking lineout.
It came as no surprise Matt Kvesic burrowed over, with Simmonds’ simple conversion level l ing the tussle. Exeter looked in the mood and took the lead for the first time four minutes before the interval with another pack-orientated touchdown for Jacques Vermeulen.
Simmonds added the extras but Glasgow ended the half in lethal fashion.
Hastings released George Horne with a slick offload and the scrumhalf scuttled in to give his mate an easy kick to tie it up at the end of a breathless 40 minutes.
The drama kept on rising and Jones should have added to Glasgow’s tally but was unable to scoop up two loose balls inside the 22 area.
And Chiefs cashed in on their double reprieve by pouncing for try No.4 in their first raid of the second half, Kvesic completing his double seconds after hooker Brown was sin-binned.
Despite the handicap, Glasgow’s reply was potent and Matawalu was propelled over by his forwards as Hastings equalised from the touchline.
Johnson’s disallowed try raised the anxiety level inside Scotstoun before, in an incredible f inal act, former Glasgow hero Stuart Hogg hit the bar with a 60-metre penalty.