Tigers’ claws clipped as Glasgow charge on
LEICESTER TIGERS 0 GLASGOW WARRIORS 43
HAIL Toony’s tiger tamers!
Gregor Townsend’s wonderful Warriors produced the most-stunning Euro show ever by a Scottish team to clinch their first-ever place in the quarter-finals of the northern hemisphere’s top club tournament.
In truth, the former champions weren’t just tamed on their own patch, they were totally, utterly and ruthlessly slaughtered.
The astonishing 6-0 try count was an accurate reflection of the gulf between the sides.
Now Glasgow must wait for the outcome of today’s remaining pool matches to find out there opponents in the last eight.
And they COULD be on course for yet another tilt at Munster in Limerick.
Townsend – soon to take over as Scotland boss – watched his rampant troops secure a bonus point before the interval, and turn the screw in the second half.
Warriors had beaten Leicester at Scotstoun in the competition opener, but last night’s Welford Road romp was even more amazing.
Glasgow had looked assured and urgent during the opening exchanges – both in attack and defence.
They tested the home markers with a sequence of 27 phases – and the slick work paid off.
Suddenly, Tommy Seymour dashed infield, crashed through two challenges and touched down under the crossbar – giving Finn Russell a simple conversion.
Russell then set up another raid with a remarkable 80-metre clearance.
And he was back in the spotlight to fire over a short-range penalty for offside in the danger zone.
Stuart Hogg then burst into the contest with a trademark surge into enemy territory, but the Tigers managed to snuff out the immediate peril.
Warriors kept up the momentum, forcing Leicester to offend again. However, this time Russell pushed it wide of the near post.
Winger Lee Jones was then taken out late by Matthew Tait as he chased his own chip.
Tait was yellow carded – and two minutes later the Glasgow fans were celebrating as French ref Mathieu Reynal awarded them a penalty try for illegal maul entry on their line. The kick was a formality. Leicester’s cause wasn’t helped by two penalty misses in quick succession by Freddie Burns as Warriors went through a ragged patch.
But they rediscovered their finishing power on the half-hour mark, Gordy Reid’s rumble down the middle paving the way for Mark Bennett to slide over.
Russell added the extras from the widest possible angle, stretching the gap to 24.
Even better was to come as skipper Jonny Gray hurtled through for the bonus-point score, goaled by Russell.
The domination continued after the restart and Ryan Wilson galloped in for try No. 5 in the 48th minute.
Russell maintained his flawless conversion record, his strike being the cue for Townsend to make wholesale bench changes.
The switches didn’t interrupt the flow and man of the match Tim Swinson made it six of the best.
His effort sparked a mass walk-out by disillusioned and angry Tigers fans in the 25,000 crowd.
They had witnessed Leicester leaking a record number of touchdowns, and they couldn’t suffer any more.
Sub Darcy Rae thought he had snatched the seventh score, but the video ref ruled his elbow had nudged the touchline a split second before grounding the ball.