Guinness pro14 Glasgow miles better but fightback too little too late
GLASGOW came within inches of claiming an implausible victory last night after falling 16 points down midway through the second half, but in the end they left themselves too much to do and had to settle for a losing bonus point.
After their heavy defeat by the Cheetahs in last week’s opening PRO14 fixture, this was a distinct improvement, but Dave Rennie was nonetheless left deeply frustrated by the inconsistency which had seen his team concede three tries in a sevenminute spell before briefly finding their best attacking form.
All the same, the head coach is certainly not panicking, having seen his team fight back from a position which many other sides would have regarded as hopeless.
“Those tries at the start of the second half came from when we actually had the ball initially, so they basically came from our own errors,” Rennie said. “The boys showed great character to fight back. At 25-9 we looked dead.
“But we ended up getting into a position at the end where we could have won it – and maybe should have won it. It’s frustrating, because we basically handed the game to our opponents in that spell after half time. They brought a lot of line speed, but we made too many errors.
“There are 21 rounds in this competition, so there’s certainly no reason to panic. But we’ve got high standards and high expectations of ourselves, so we know we need to be better.”
Two Brandon Thomson penalties and two replies from Dan Jones made the scores level at half time, although Stafford McDowall and Tom James had both fumbled with the line at their mercy. Thomson put his team back ahead with the first score of the second half, but then Scarlets took control.
First, a wayward kick by Ruaridh Jackson was fielded by James, and the winger put Paul Asquith clear into space. As the defence closed in, Asquith slipped the ball inside to Kieran Hardy, and the scrum-half had the pace to get to the line unhampered.
Then Asquith scored himself, finishing off a move which had seen his forwards drive to within feet of the line. Finally, Steff Evans seized on an opening, kicked ahead and won the chase to touch down. With the first two of those tries being converted, Scarlets had gone from three points down to 16 points up, and the game was effectively over – or so it seemed.
However, Glasgow had other ideas, and going into the last quarter fought hard to get the try that would at least make the Scarlets feel a degree of insecurity. They got it, too, when Thomson used his outside man as a decoy to drift between two defenders. The stand-off converted his own score to narrow the deficit, and Glasgow soon got another minor boost when Angus O’Brien sent a penalty that would have stretched the lead to two full scores crashing back off a post.
With six minutes to play they got a major boost, as Huw Jones raced down the left and passed inside to McDowall just before he put a foot in touch. The centre scored, but Thomson was wide with the conversion attempt.
There was still time for the try that would complete an unlikely comeback, and they nearly got it after Scarlets flanker Josh Macleod was yellowcarded. Twice the Warriors kicked penalties to touch, and twice they drove from the line-out. They were so close to the line on the second occasion, but in the end spilled the ball forwards, giving Scarlets a narrow but merited victory. MARR face the biggest test to date of their 100 per cent record in the Premiership today, when they visit a Hawick side desperate to make amends for their recent substandard displays.
The Troon club excelled last week when beating Currie at home and are now four points clear at the top, but head coach Craig Redpath has his players braced for a tough battle at Mansfield Park.
“After a loss and draw Hawick will be determined to put in a performance,” Redpath said. “We look forward to the challenge and I am sure George [Graham, the
Hawick coach] will have his team prepared and fired up for the game.”
Graham had hoped his team would be fired up for their match at home to Selkirk last week given they had underperformed so badly at Currie a week earlier. But they could only draw, leading the head coach to suggest Marr must be favourites for this one.
“They will be expecting to walk over us after our last couple of outings,” Graham said. “We have become used to being the underdogs and we welcome it once again. I am expecting a huge reaction.”
Ali Weir returns at full-back to captain fourth-placed Hawick, while Marr are without injured centre Scott Bickerstaff. Those changes should help ensure this is a close contest, but after averaging nearly 50 points a game in their first four outings, the visitors’ morale could hardly be higher.
In one of three derbies, GHA welcome Glasgow Hawks to Braidholm for the first league match between the clubs in 11 years - although they did meet in the
Scottish Cup a few seasons back. GHA have named an unchanged starting 15 after claiming their first win last week against Edinburgh Accies, while Hawks welcome back the experienced prop Gary Strain and winger Kerr Gossman.
“The squad is looking forward to the resurrection of this Glasgow derby and the challenge that is in front of us,” GHA coach Trevor Carmichael said. “We will be looking to push on from last weekend and secure another home win.”
Last week Musselburgh enjoyed their first victory too, winning at Hawks, and they hope to follow it up today when they welcome thirdplaced Aberdeen Grammar to Stoneyhill.
“Aberdeen have started the season well, but I am confident if we stick to the task then a win is well within our reach,” Musselburgh coach Graeme Paterson said.
Currie Chieftains are at home to mid-table Edinburgh Accies, who are in the midst of a long sequence of away fixtures while Raeburn Place is being redeveloped. After seeing his team lose their perfect record to Marr a week ago, Chieftains coach Mark Cairns has been a hard taskmaster in training.
“We were all extremely disappointed in our performance last week against Marr,” he said. “We have worked very hard off the pitch to identify the key areas for improvement. So we have trained like Tarzan. We now need an on-pitch performance to get the momentum we had built up before Marr back.”
There is a derby in the Borders too, where sixth-placed Selkirk are at home to Jed-Forest, who lie seventh.