Young Warriors clip Ospreys’ wings

Super sub Niko Matawalu was the unlikely hat-trick hero as Glasgow triumphed in a thrilling Pro14 table-top tussle last night.

The Fijian came off the bench in the early stages – and snapped up three brilliant tries to stun the Ospreys on their own patch.

Warriors had made an urgent start and a gallop by Scott Cummings set up Brandon Thompson to edge them in front with a penalty.

But they immediately lost Ruaridh Jackson, who limped off to be replaced by Matawalu.

Ospreys hit back strongly with Ollie Cracknell bursting through two challenges for a try, goaled by Sam Davies. Matawalu then snatched the limelight by finishing off a slick move, featuring a clever back-flip offload by Dan van der Merwe.

Even better was to come when the mercurial Fijian completed a quickfire double in the wake of a Nick Grigg break.

Thompson added both conversions – only to see Davies bang over a penalty at the other end before the interval.

Davies repeated the feat after the restart to narrow the gap to four.

But within three minutes Matawalu latched on to a Thompson lob to notch his treble. Grigg then scuttled over on the hour-mark to make sure of the bonus point, Thompson slotting the extras.

Ospreys refused to buckle and they earned a lifeline via a Hanno Dirksen try five minutes from time.

Afterwards Grigg shrugged off his brilliant display to heap praise on Glasgow’s young fringe stars.

Grigg, who bagged the bonus-point try, pipped hat-trick hero Niko Matawalu for the man of the match prize.

But he insisted: “A lot of the less experienced lads came of age. With so many big names on Scotland duty, they stepped up and proved themselves.

“It was a superb away win that could prove very important when the play-off places are decided.”

Niko Matawalu.