Warriors’ Euro quest left floundering at Scotstoun
Glasgow’s Euro dream was blown wildly off course at stormy Scotstoun as the muscle men of La Rochelle claimed instant revenge.
Dave Rennie’s men had gone into battle with high hopes after winning in France last weekend.
But they had little answer to the power and pace of the fired up visitors – and now they will need a miraculous sequence of results to reach the Champions Cup knock out stages.
For now, they will switch their focus to making sure of a top-three finish in their Pro14 group, starting with the festive double-header with arch rivals Edinburgh.
Glasgow had dominated the opening exchanges but struggled to find fluidity in the squally conditions.
Adam Hastings set up the first clear-cut scoring chance with a brilliant touch finder into the danger zone.
And directly from the line out, hooker Fraser Brown was driven over by his pack-mates for the opening try.
Hastings defied the swirling breeze to add the extras.
Brock James was handed an opportunity from the tee to repair some of the damage, but it was well short of the target.
However, two minutes later, there was a shock for the Warriors as winger Jules Favre won the race to a chip and scored in the corner.
Glasgow – with the elements in their favour – continued to toil and they gave away another series of penalties in their own territory.
Lavani Botia looked certain to crash over for another touchdown but he let the greasy ball slip from his grasp just a stride from the line.
They maintained the momentum and Botia made amends by hurtling over under the crossbar to give James an easy conversion.
The pattern continued after the restart with the home brigade making no real impression.
Coach Rennie began to deploy his subs in an effort to turn the tide.
And one of them, Nick
Grigg, was blocked inches short – having somehow broken through three challenges.
Warriors remained camped in the 22-zone and they were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try when the visiting half back illegally kicked the ball out of the scrum in the shadow of his own posts.
However, La Rochelle survived the barrage.
To compound Glasgow’s misery, a last-gasp Scott Cummings effort was chalked off after a dangerous handoff by Matt Fagerson seconds earlier.
Fagerson was red carded.
WASPS 7 EDINBURGH 9
Jaco van der Walt came off the bench to keep alive Edinburgh’s quest to reach the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
The stand-off banged over two late pinpoint penalties after Wasps had looked set to cling on to their interval lead at the Ricoh Arena.
Edinburgh boss Richard Cockerill hailed his side’s patience and resilience.
He said: “We were up against a very strong defence, but we found a way to win.
“The guys didn’t panic when points didn’t come early in the second half and we took our opportunities.”