Bristling Warriors hold off Ospreys
A PHYSICAL Ospreys team made them work for it, but the Warriors’ elan finally broke out in the Glasgow sunshine to launch the new Scotstoun era under Dave Rennie in victorious fashion.
Tries from Leonardo Sarto and Adam Ashe in the third quarter added to Alex Dunbar’s early score to finally break the Ospreys’ grip on the game. Full-back Dan Evans scored a fine try for the visitors early on but, though they dominated possession for an hour, they lacked the subtlety to pierce Glasgow again and a late Dunbar try sealed a bonus-point win.
Aware the Ospreys were missing Wales half-backs Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar, and talisman Alun Wyn Jones, however, Glasgow coach Rennie was unimpressed.
‘I thought we were pretty flat,’ he said of the first-half display. ‘They slowed our ball down and we lost a lot of races in the contact area. It was a bit better in the second half, but we’ve got a lot of strides to make there.
‘There’s plenty of character in the group and we made a fair few tackles but didn’t have the same sort of line speed as last week. There was a lack of edge and brutality. Our defence did reward us with a couple of tries, but we can be way better. I think the score probably flattered us a bit.’
Rennie had spoken of the need for a more balanced attack after their 18-12 win at Connacht. Finn Russell, making his first appearance of the season, set about addressing that with slick long passes, short passes and kicks in behind the Ospreys. Rennie felt he over-did it, but when Russell was on the ball Glasgow had the upper hand.
After an early lost scrum and overthrown line-out, the Warriors were strong in the set-pieces, and new Kiwi flanker Callum Gibbins was an instant hit with his energy, tackling (he made 20) and nuisance value, even if his mullet haircut was on the dodgy side.
And it was Glasgow’s defence, not attack, that yielded the decisive tries. Ospreys had enjoyed a lengthy spell of possession inside the home half without reward when a speculative pass by fly-half Sam Davies was seized by Dunbar. The centre’s clever run from halfway took him away from two despairing defenders and over the line. Russell converted and added a penalty three minutes later.
At that stage, the hosts seemed in command but they lost control of the ball for virtually the rest of the half. Russell handed it to the Ospreys with a restart into touch and his teammates lacked the accuracy at the breakdown necessary to win it back.
After a series of surging runs by Ospreys forwards Olly Cracknell and Bradley Davies, fly-half Sam Davies released Evans with a short pass on a superb line to the posts. Sam Davies added the conversion but was wide with a long-range penalty effort to level.
Bristling Warriors defence denied last year’s semi-finalists, bone-crunching tackles from Ryan Wilson, Tim Swinson and George Turner earning roars from the big home support.
Still Glasgow could not retain ball, and a Davies penalty brought the Ospreys level just before half-time.
The hosts came out with refreshed urgency, sending more players into the breakdown, and earning swift reward.
The impressive Rory Hughes was first denied by young Wales wing Keelan Giles and then failed to grasp a cross-kick from Russell before he was forced off with a knee injury to be replaced by Sarto, and the Italian wasted no time in making his mark.
Russell took a quick tap inside the Ospreys half, Ruaridh Jackson raced into the 22 and popped up a great pass from the ground for Sarto to grasp and touch down. Russell’s conversion nudged the hosts back in front.
Ospreys hit back hard, but Glasgow’s defence repelled them, before pouncing for the crucial score. Warriors defended the halfway line so well that Sam Davies ran out of options in attack, a speculative pass picked off by Ashe, who shrugged off Davies’ despairing tackle and showed great pace to race in from 40 metres.
Glasgow lost new prop Oli Kebble just 11 minutes after he came on, but Ospreys’ Cracknell was stretchered off after clashing with Nick Grigg, Test lock Bradley Davies was yellowcarded for a line-out offence and manof-the-match Dunbar celebrated by charging over for the bonus-point try with two minutes left.