Second-half collapse as wheels come off in Exeter
EXETER CHIEFS 34 GLASGOW WARRIORS 18
Injury-stricken Warriors suffered a Euro nightmare at Sandy Park.
The visitors had been on course to pull off a shock after opening up an interval lead.
But a catalogue of Champions Cup disasters meant there was no way back.
Now Warriors must beat French aces La Rochelle home and away to salvage their hopes of reaching the knock-out rounds as pool winners.
The wheels came off immediately after the interval as the hosts romped in for three tries in quick succession.
Glasgow boss Dave Rennie looked back on their disaster in Devon and admitted his men fell asleep at half-time.
The coach said: “We weren’t awake at the restart. We didn’t clear up after their kick-off and handed them the initiative.
“You can’t let a side like Exeter get up a head of steam like that.
“It was very disappointing after a promising display in the the earlier stages.”
Rennie has concerns over wingers Dan van Der Merwe and Ratu Tagive, who both were taken off injured, in the build-up to their return to Pro14 action against European champions Leinster.
He said: “We will look at the situation early in the week and only then will be know the full extent of the damage.”
Glasgow had made a stirring start with Sam Johnson and George Horne combining to set up a great attacking platform.
A clever chip from Adam Hastings then forced a fivemetre scrum, but the home defence held firm.
They kept up the momentum and spurned a three-point penalty chance to opt for a line out – only for Exeter to steal a turnover.
There were mocking jeers from the visiting fans when ex-Glasgow hero Stuart Hogg launched a forward pass under pressure.
Seconds later, the Warriors created a superb try down the middle – Nick Grigg shaking off three challenges to skid over and give Hastings an easy conversion.
Predictably, Exeter hit back powerfully. And they repaired some of the damage, thanks to a penalty from Joe Simmonds.
The frantic action continued with another series of Glasgow raids, but they were guilty of impatience instead of trying to build phases.
The Chiefs cashed in when Jonny Hill barrelled over from close-range in the wake of a tapped penalty – Simmonds confidently adding the extras.
Warriors responded positively with Hastings banging over a penalty on the half-hour mark to level up the contest.
He repeated the feat with the last kick of the half to put his side three points ahead.
Exeter made a stunning start to the second half, snatching a touchdown within two minutes after Glasgow tried to be too fancy in their own 22-area.
The visiting defence was then slow to react as Henry Slade danced past three markers to set up the Simmonds conversion.
Warriors suffered another big blow when Van der Merwe was taken off with hip damage.
It meant a reshuffle of the backline with sub Pete Horne filling the No. 10 slot.
And immediately the Chiefs grabbed their third score to effectively snuff out the Scots challenge.
Then Tom O’Flaherty won the kick-chase race with Hastings to notch the bonus point.
Simmonds turned both efforts into maximums, leaving the shellshocked Warriors with no route back into the game.
The mishaps totted up with sub Kiran McDonald being unluckily yellow-carded – handing three more points to Simmonds.
But Glasgow refused to buckle completely and George Turner went over a minute from time.