Continental class: five golden moments for Scots clubs in European rugby’s premier tournament
12 December 1999: Glasgow 30 Leicester 17
Long before the Warriors could travel to Welford Road in expectation rather than hope they beat the Tigers at Perth’s Mcdiarmid Park. It was a strong Leicester team, Rowntree, Johnson, Kay, Corry and Back were all present. The visitors outscored Glasgow three tries to two but Tommy Hayes kicked six penalties to see off the perennial English champions. Tigers lifted the European Cup the very next season. 17 January 2009: Toulouse 26 Glasgow 33
These were the days when Toulouse appeared invincible but Glasgow travelled to Stade Ernest-wallon with a plan and they executed it perfectly. Noting space behind the Toulouse defence, coach Sean Lineen urged his backs to grubber the ball behind and then apply pressure. They did just that and ran out far more convincing winners than the scoreline suggests. Man of the match Max Evans, Kelly Brown and Graeme Morrison all claimed tries, Dan Parks added 18 points off the tee.
18 November 2011: Edinburgh 47 Racing 46
Perhaps the most exhilarating and breathtaking game of rugby ever witnessed and it wasn’t televised! Edinburgh raced into a lead, Tim Visser scoring in the opening minute, only to find themselves slowly pegged back by Racing 92 who led 44-20 early in the second half. Netani Talei grabbed a try for Edinburgh but Racing kicked a penalty and Edinburgh needed to score three tries inside the final 16 minutes to win. They got them, courtesy of Tom Brown, Roddy Grant and Visser. Great stuff.
7 April 2012: Edinburgh 19 Toulouse 14
It remains the high water mark for Scottish clubs in European competition. Edinburgh earned a home quarterfinal against Toulouse and they won it in front of nearly 38,000 disbelieving fans. It wasn’t a classic match unless you were Greig Laidlaw, pictured, who gave a hint of greatness playing out of position at stand-off, kicking one conversion, one drop goal and three penalties to sit alongside Mike Blair’s try.
25 January 2015: Bath 20 Glasgow 15
It isn’t all about winning and Glasgow displayed astonishing resilience in this defeat at the Rec with a team cobbled together with gaffer tape and wishful thinking. Thanks to injuries, Gregor Townsend picked a centre at No 8 (Richie Vernon), he stuck a hooker Fraser Brown on one flank and a lock Leone Nakarawa on the other. Glasgow didn’t have a front row worth the name. The visitors scored two cracking tries and only lost to a penalty try as Bath squeezed them at the set scrum.