It took guts for boys to be Lions tamers
Wilson hails Warriors after they dig deep to salvage win
Glasgow had to dig deep before claiming their second win from three games in the URC – but there was no denying they deserved the victory in the end.
They should have been out of sight at the end of a first half in which they were well on top but head coach Danny Wilson was delighted by the fight they showed when they had to defend right to the last second against the South African side.
He said: “The game died a death a little bit in the second half, a little bit like last week.
“But I thought that we looked really dangerous in the first half.
“The character element of it was pleasing. We had to dig in. We could have folded a bit at the end but we didn’t.
“We dug in and got the win and that’s 11 points from the first three games.
“We’ve gone to Ulster and played two big South African teams who we didn’t know much about so it’s a good start.
“Our character defensively in our own 22 was much better than last week,”
That was a reference to the home win against the Sharks that saw his side struggle late in the game after dominating the first 50 minutes.
Wilson said: “We worked harder and kept the opposition out.
“We played so well in the f irst hal f and created so much but it was a little bit forced with the off loads. We were trying to force the issue when we should have been more patient.
“In the second hal f the weather came in and there were more scrums.
“We didn’t want that because we knew the scrum was a really powerful weapon for them.” Prop forward Jamie Bhatti marked his 50th appearance for the Warriors with the game’s f irst score, touching down for a secondminute try after a penalty had been kicked to touch.
S t a nd- o f f Ro s s Thompson converted but two penalties from t he L ions ’ EW Viljoen either side of one from the Glasgow No.10 kept the visitors in touch. Another Viljoen penalty in the second half made it a one-point game but Thompson was on target eight minutes from time to give his side some precious breathing space.
The Warriors had to defend desperately late on but they saw it out for a crucial win.