Ulster make Warriors pay for blunders

GLASGOW WARRIORS missed scores of tackles as a bonus-point win for Ulster sent Gregor Townsend’s side home from Belfast without a point.

Scott Cummings bagged two tries for the visitors while they were down to 14 men with Rob Harley in the sin bin, but Jacob Stockdale scored two of his own as Ulster won easily.

‘We slipped off too many tackles, which made it easy for Ulster,’ said Townsend. ‘We gave them seven points, then suddenly it goes to 14 and the game gets away from you.

‘We did really well at the end of the first half to give ourselves a chance in the second, but we can’t miss tackles against such a good attacking team.’

The first score of the game came when Cummings was penalised for failing to release the ball on the ground, but the dual pressure applied by Chris Henry and Marcell Coetzee forced the Warriors lock into the penalty concession, a kick that Ruan Pienaar was never going to miss.

The decision-making of Glasgow in attack was surely questioned at the break, and one example came after 13 minutes when Henry Pyrgos chipped over the defensive line five metres from the try line but with no chaser in sight: it was an aimless kick.

Glasgow were right in the game at that point but, from a scrum deep in their own half, Pienaar helped his side gain almost 70 metres and Warriors were forced to carry possession over their own try line.

Another scrum followed and, after a couple of phases, Tommy Bowe went over in the corner.

Just after the half-hour mark, Henry and Coetzee forced another penalty with some good work and, after the Ulster maul was halted, Pienaar’s pass saw Sean Reidy scramble over.

Pienaar’s conversion made it 15-0, but just before half-time Glasgow summoned an effort to retain the ball for 23 phases and Pyrgos’ long pass saw Brandon Thomson dive over.

Three minutes into the second half, Pienaar drilled over a penalty but six minutes later their third try arrived.

It was a slick first-phase move off the top of a line-out that sprung the Warriors defence but the ease at which Stockdale charged through the Glasgow defensive line on to Luke Marshall’s soft pass will disappoint.

Again, Pienaar added the extras for a 25-5 lead but his kicking tee wasn’t long on the sidelines as Ulster clinched the bonus point, when the scrum-half finished off a brilliant counter-attack for his side’s fourth try.

After Mark Bennett’s good attack was halted, Pienaar was at the zenith of the move when his goose-step broke the tackle. And after six pairs of Ulster hands saw the ball up to the other end of the field, a breathless Pienaar raced in the try in the left corner.

A 68th-minute yellow card for Harley left Glasgow down on numbers for ten minutes but they started that sin-bin slot with a try after Cummings blocked down Paul Marshall’s box kick, booted through and dived on the ball.

Five minutes later, Cummings powered through a tackle and stretched to score his second try, but Stockdale wrapped it up late on.