Glasgow fail to scale the test of this Leinster wall
GLASGOW WARRIORS 10 LEINSTER 23
Woefulwarriors suffered a major Pro14 title blow as they were crushed on home-turf by the streetwise Dubliners.
Leinster had pitched up at a freezing Scotstoun minus a host of their front-line Test stars.
But their strength-in-depth was accentuated when they shook off a wretched opening spell to comfortably snuff out the Glasgow challenge.
Warriors boss Dave Rennie admitted his bruised and battered troops failed to climb the Leinster wall.
He said: “They choked us – and when we were able to find some movement, we missed too many chances.
“Leinster’s scrambling defence was excellent and we paid the price for a couple of lapses.
“They forced us into making mistakes at important moments – they built a wall in front of us, and we couldn’t climb over it.”
Now Rennie’s side must rediscover their potency for the crucial Champions Cup clashes with French aces La Rochelle. The hosts had made an urgent start and were controversially denied a try in the fourth minute.
Huw Jones was tackled two metres from the line early as he chased a brilliant Sam Johnson chip
Bizarrely the ref yellowcarded Hugo Keenan and handed Warriors a penalty – when it looked certain to be a penalty try.
Glasgow brushed aside their frustrations and made the breakthrough almost instantly as veteran Ruaridh Jackson finished off a slick handling move.
There was a double setback, however, when prop Oil Kebble was taken off for a concussion check before Pete Horne sent a penalty crashing against the post from close quarters.
And Leinster capitalised by sending their first kick between the uprights, via the boot of Ross Byrne.
Glasgow continued to earn the bulk of possession and territory, but they were finding life difficult in the face of a tigerish visiting defence.
However, they patiently put together a sequence of pick and drive phases to send Jackson over again to complete his double.
Leinster’s response was quick and lethal as winger Cian Kelleher scorched in for a topnotch score – goaled by Byrne.
And there was another bombshell for the Warriors just two minutes later when the speedy Kelleher notched another, also converted by Byrne.
The Dubliners continued to keep lacklustre Glasgow under pressure after the restart.
And the home troops didn’t help themselves by launching a series of speculative and largely inaccurate kicks into opposition territory, where they were easily dealt with.
Leinster’s advantage widened in the 57th minute with another pinpoint strike by Byrne.
Warriors made a spate of bench changes in a bid to turn the tide.
But there was no sign of a quick fix as the visitors’ smothering tactics kept them in total control.
Glasgow’s plight was underlined by their mounting discipline problems – and it was no surprise when Byrne added to his penalty tally and effectively make sure of the glory.
WALES 43 BARBARIANS 33 Wayne Pivac celebrated his first game in
Wales scored six tries. But they had to withstand a second-half fightback by the Baa-baas who trailed 33-7 at one point. Wales were ahead inside six minutes when Evans slipped a tackle and fed Josh Adams to go overr in the corner with Leigh Halfpenny adding the extras.
The Barbarians’ Scot, Josh Strauss, picked up to score and Curwin Bosch levelled matters with the conversion. However, a quick tap-penalty five minutes before half-time freed Evans to send Mcnicholl over.
With Barbarians flanker Marco Van Staden sin-binned Wales took advantage as Ken Owens profited from an overthrown line-out and Halfpenny converted for a 19-7 interval lead. Owens then claimed his second try and the floodgates were open and Adams scorched over for his second, too.
But the Barbarians reduced the gap when Shaun Stevenson accepted a bouncing ball. Bosch’s conversion made it 33-19.
A Gareth Davies’ effort for Wales was quickly cancelled out by fellow replacement Craig Millar. The Baa-baas continued their remarkable comeback through flanker Peter Samu Bosch’s kick, reducing the gap to seven.
But a late Halfpenny penalty, taking his tally to 13 points, ensured that the Pivac era would get off to a winning start.