The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Warriors’ woes plunge to new depths in Champions Cup
CHAMPIONS CUP: Shellshocked Warriors skipper admits ‘lessons will be learned’
Glasgow Warriors’ European woes plunged to new depths in Dublin yesterday as they were demolished by the Champions Cup favourites.
Dave Rennie’s depleted side had no answer to the pace, precision and power of the hosts in this Pool 3 clash.
And after the eight-try slaughter, they now just want to get the last pool match against Exeter Chiefs out of the way to enable them to focus on their quest to claim the Pro14 crown.
Rob Harley reckons his shellshocked Warriors were walloped by a “worldclass” Leinster outfit.
The stand-in skipper insisted he and his mates must learn lessons from the Dublin drubbing if they are also to become a force in Europe.
Harley declared: “Leinster were absolute top quality – they were world class for the whole 80 minutes.
“Small margins can make a massive difference at this level and the way they performed shows the size of the step up from the Pro14 league to the Champions Cup.”
“We have had a poor campaign, though we did compete in the first four matches. However, we feel that a few bounces went against us.”
Glasgow had made an urgent start, but a combination of tight marking and over-ambitious handling enabled the star-studded province to keep their line intact.
Leinster cashed in by snatching the lead during their first surge into enemy territory. Two missed tackles allowed Jordy Murphy to dash through from 15 metres, giving Jonny Sexton an easy conversion.
Warriors hit back strongly and try-star Murphy was yellow-carded for illegally tackling Ali Price in the wake of a tapped penalty. Glasgow forced three more penalties in quick succession in the shadow of the posts.
But still they couldn’t breach the Leinster defence – until Niko Matawalu burst his way into the contest in the 17th minute. The dynamic Fijian came off his wing, jinked past two men and touched down.
Pete Horne added the extras, only to see the home brigade grab back the lead immediately.
Skipper Isa Nacewa cruised through a massive gap in midfield with Sexton finding the target before banging over a close-range penalty.
The momentum was now well and truly with the Dubliners and when Sean Cronin barrelled over from a rolling maul Glasgow were out of it.
Sexton’s pinpoint strike stretched the gap to 17 points in the build-up to the interval. There was still time for Scott Fardy to make sure of the bonus point after a sloppy clearance by Pete Horne.
Even worse was to come when Sexton sneaked in for try number five.
Leinster appeared to take their collective foot off the pedal and it took them until almost midway through the second half to add to their try t ally, Nacewa managing to complete his double.
Adam Ashe hurtled over from closerange during a rare breakaway for Warriors – but James Lowe got Leinster back in lethal mode to notch their seventh.
Matawalu bagged another consolation for the Warriors, goaled from the touchline by Pete Horne, only for Fardy to muscle over again to round off the rout.