LAMONT TURNS BACK THE CLOCK
Veteran Sean in show of speed to earn Glasgow a bonus point and keep alive faint play-off hopes
GLASGOW WARRIORS veteran winger Sean Lamont retires at the end of the season but showed at the age of 36 he still has the gas to get past defences when it matters.
With just two minutes left, Warriors, down to 14 men after Tim Swinson’s red card, were desperate for a bonus-point try and were throwing everything at the Connacht defence.
Just when it looked like they could not find a way through, captain Peter Horne played a pass to Lamont who turned on the afterburners to leave the Connacht defence for dead.
His magnificent touchdown made him the home side hero and keeps alive Glasgow’s faint hopes of making the Pro12 play-offs.
What made his contribution even more interesting was the fact that he was not even supposed to be playing. Originally not even in the match-day 23 squad, he only got his chance because of injuries to first-choice wingers Lee Jones and Tommy Seymour, who were ruled out late in the week.
‘It was great to see the old war-horse score,’ said Warriors No 8 Adam Ashe. ‘It is always fun to play alongside him and it is great for him to get the bonus-point try for us. He was magnificent in the way he took his try.’
Lamont’s late try stole the show, although Ali Price also played a major part in the vital league win. The Scotland and Glasgow scrum-half scored a try, set up one for Finn Russell and put in a remarkable tackle on Connacht winger Niyi Adeolokun to save one.
Price’s vital contributions started when he played in Russell for a try after some clever passing from the Glasgow backs. Then the scrum-half picked up the ball at the back of the scrum to evade two tackles to score a touchdown of his own. Price was not finished with a stunning tackle on Adeolokun in the second half managing to force his foot into touch moments before he went over the try-line.
Lamont and Price may have been Glasgow’s heroes, but the villain was Swinson, who was red carded for a sneaky left-hand punch on a Connacht player at the ruck.
Connacht took a deserved early lead when Rob Harley was pulled out of the defensive line, allowing Tiernan O’Halloran to break through two tackles before offloading to try scorer Adeolokun.
A simple Russell penalty reduced the deficit before the Scotland fly-half was involved again playing a pass to hooker Corey Flynn who crashed over to score. The extras from Russell was followed by a penalty from Connacht’s Craig Ronaldson after Glasgow were caught offside.
All the quality attacking moves in the first half were coming from Connacht, with flanker Jake Heenan making some hard yards before releasing Andrew Browne. The big lock broke through two Glasgow tackles before Jack Carty was involved in the move that put captain John Muldoon in for a try in the corner. Ronaldson put over the extras.
Carty blotted his copy book when he was marched back ten metres for not releasing the ball immediately after his side gave away a penalty. From closer in, there was no question of Russell missing the kick.
Glasgow were relieved to hear the half-time whistle as Connacht had laid siege to the line and were unlucky not to increase their narrow lead.
After the break, two bad handling errors cost the home side scoring opportunities.
First, Stuart Hogg failed to gather a pass from captain Horne. Moments later, a pass from Nick Grigg was too fast for Rory Hughes who was sure to score if he had gathered.
Connacht knew they had been let off the hook and started to push forward more. A simple penalty for Ronaldson was the only return for all their pressure before Price played in Russell to score which started the Glasgow fightback.
Connacht were starting to lose their discipline under pressure and had Carty yellow-carded for a high tackle on Horne which led to a melee among both sets of players.
Rather than take a simple penalty
from in front of the post awarded because of Carty’s high tackle, the home side decided to take a scrum. It was a decision that paid off with Price picking the ball up and evading two tackles to score. Russell’s conversion was his last contribution before being replaced.
Swinson made things tough for his own team when he was sent off.
Price then made his remarkable try-saving tackle on Adeolokun as the game reached its exciting climax. A Ronaldson penalty was cancelled out by one from Horne, before replacement John Cooney put his side just six points behind.
Any concerns for Glasgow were ended by Lamont’s sprint to the line which raised the Scotstoun roof.