Quins left reeling as Warriors go on the rampage
GLASGOW WARRIORS 50 HARLEQUINS 17
Glasgow Warriors ran riot in Perth to earn a major confidence boost ahead of their Pro14 campaign. With the opener against Connacht just a fortnight away, they demolished Quins in an eight-try rout. The London giants had surged ahead after seven minutes when Phil Swanston burrowed over from close range after some classy phase play. Marcus Smith slotted the conversion, but the home response was quick as Paddy Kelly’s effort was goaled by Brandon Thomson. Back came the visitors to restore their advantage through Renaldo Bothma. And the tit-for-tat action continued when Rory Hughes powered over for Glasgow’s second touchdown. Even better was to come just before the interval as Matt Smith put them in front – Thomson again finding the target. Warriors kept up the momentum after the restart and Alex Allan pounced for No. 4 in the 42nd minute. Adam Hastings took over the boot duties to turn it into a seven-pointer. And he was back in the spotlight almost immediately in the wake of an interception touchdown from new Aussie signing Nick Frisby. Marcus Smith clawed back a score for Quins, who then brought former Scotland ace Tim Visser off the bench. But Kevin Bryce got Glasgow up and running again as he finished off a rolling maul move. And the loudest roar of the day came from the fans when Niko Matawalu latched on to a Hastings chip to take the tally to seven. The Fijian hero completed his quickfire double to bring up the half-century. Thrilled Glasgow chief Dave Rennie hailed his superkids after their eight-try romp. The coach declared: “I was really pleased with how they all stepped up. “We were without more than 20 of our international guys and the performance showed our strength in depth. “We saw a group of great young kids making a big statement. “Their level of handling skills and decision-making was excellent.”