Glittering Glasgow have to wait and hope
GLASGOW WARRIORS face an anxious wait to see if they will qualify for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup.
They delivered the bonus-point win over Sale Sharks required to give them a chance of making it through — but other results today have to go their way.
Both Saracens, who play at home against Racing 92, and Gloucester, who travel to Toulouse, could still pip them for a quarter-final spot.
Warriors skipper Ryan Wilson will be watching both games avidly. He said: ‘It was pleasing for us to win like that as Sale pride themselves on being solid at home. The forwards and backs tore it up for us.
‘I will be watching the games somewhere with the kids and hoping Racing 92 and Toulouse do the job for us.’
Man-of-the-match Ali Price insisted Glasgow had done all they could and now things were out of their hands.
‘It would be nice if Finn (Russell) and the boys at Racing 92 could help us out,’ he added.
Warriors head coach Dave Rennie, meanwhile, will be on a plane to Australia as he takes a short break with no games for several weeks.
The foundations for Glasgow’s six-try victory yesterday were laid within the first two minutes as
Leone Nakarawa made an immediate impact on his return to the club with a superb try.
After being sacked by Racing 92 for returning late to Paris from the World Cup, the Fijian signed on for his second spell at the Warriors until the end of the season.
The touchdown from the big second row, playing out of position in the back row, was cheered by Sir Alex Ferguson, who was watching from the stands.
Although Nakarawa picked up a yellow card late in the first half, that didn’t take anything away from his excellent performance.
The perfect start for Nakarawa and Glasgow came in the first attack of the game. Adam Hastings fed winger DTH van der Merwe, who was stopped just short.
The ball was still alive, with the Glasgow players backing up Van der Merwe in a flash. Ali Price fed Nakarawa and, with a little push from his fellow forwards, he crashed over after only two minutes.
Hastings kicked the conversion. Glasgow were playing superb running rugby and quick ball from Price led to some breathtaking attacking moves involved Jonny Gray and Nakarawa.
Sale were reduced to 14 men when Jono Ross was yellow-carded for a no-arms tackle on Scott Cummings.
In the first move after the Sale captain had been sent to the sin bin, the visitors doubled their lead.
Again it was a forwards’ effort with a well-worked driving maul creating the chance.
Cummings made some hard yards and the ball was touched down by hooker Fraser Brown. Hastings added the extras.
It took nearly 20 minutes before Sale got anywhere near Glasgow’s line, illustrating the dominance of Rennie’s team.
Tempers continued to fray, with Zander Fagerson and Tom Curry the next set of players to be involved in an off-the-ball confrontation.
The English side did have their moments and were camped on the Glasgow try line for a full five minutes, striving to find a way through. But superb defending from the likes of Brown and Nakarawa kept them out.
It was the only time that Sale threatened in the first half and it wasn’t long before the action was up the other end again. In 28 minutes, Glasgow got their third try after great work by Price. He took the ball forward before feeding van der Merwe, who scored under the posts. Hastings kicked the extras again.
Nakarawa was shown a yellow card for illegally stopping a Sale rolling maul on half-time. Although the hosts kicked to the corner, they could not find a way through, even with the extra man.
Glasgow started the second half well on top, with Hastings beating four Sale defenders before getting the pass away to Kyle Steyn in an explosive start to the second half by the No10.
Minutes later, Sam Johnson grabbed Warriors’ fourth try from Price’s short pass to secure the bonus point.
Nakarawa returned from the sin bin to a team that were already 28-0 ahead.
Sale then scored their first try after a break from replacement Cameron Redpath, son of former
Scotland captain Bryan. Denny Solomona made the break before Van der Merwe stopped him controlling his own kick ahead.
Redpath took the ball on, the forwards rumbled towards the line with Jake Cooper-Woolley going over. Tom Curtis converted.
On the hour, Hastings kicked a long-range penalty to increase Glasgow’s lead before they scored their fifth try.
Replacement Niko Matawalu made ground up the wing before the ball was manoeuvred infield to allow Jonny Gray to go over. The impresive Hastings put over the conversion from a tight angle.
Glasgow thought they had their sixth try through centre Huw Jones but it was chalked off due to an infringement by Gray.
And, with seven minutes left, they had another score ruled out for a knock-on by Matawalu.
Replacement hooker George Turner then scored the try of the match.
He cut his way through the Sale defence before touching down under the posts. Hastings made it six conversions out of six.