Steyn try sinks La Rochelle and keeps Glasgow alive in Europe
Warriors moved into second spot in Pool Two behind Exeter Chiefs with a dramatic win that should galvanise Dave Rennie’s side.
Tries from Callum Gibbins, Nikola Matawalu and Kyle Steyn – along with 12 points from the boot of Adam Hastings – secured the enthralling victory, their second of the campaign.
“We showed a hell of a lot of character to hang in there and our big men did a great job around our maul defence to deny them,” said Rennie. “This result shows we can win ugly and it puts us right back into contention in this pool.”
La Rochelle scored two tries of their own courtesy of Dany Priso and Zeno Kieft with Jules Plisson kicking 14 points.
Lively right-wing Vincent Rattez sparked the hosts into life with a 35-metre break after bouncing off a weak tackle from Fraser Brown.
Rattez approached the 22 before offloading to Priso, who touched down underneath the crossbar with Plisson converting.
La Rochelle began to apply pressure in the Glasgow half and they extended their lead with a further two successful penalties from Plisson.
Hastings clawed one penalty back for Glasgow after the hosts were penalised at the proceeding scrum.
La Rochelle blindside flanker Kieft claimed their second try after Glasgow slapped down a line-out just five metres from their own try line.
The ball appeared to be heading into the hands of DTH Van Der Merwe but it was fortuitously gathered by Kieft for the try.
Glasgow pulled themselves back into the game on the stroke of halftime. With Priso penalised for not rolling away the visitors turned down an almost certain three points to go for the corner.
The driving line-out was well worked allowing Gibbins to power over from short range with Hastings converting meaning Glasgow trailed 18-13 at the interval.
However, Plisson extended La Rochelle’s lead with a straightforward penalty before Matawalu intercepted a pass from Victor Vito to run in unopposed from 70 metres out. The conversion was missed and La Rochelle proceeded to build some pressure, allowing Plisson to extend their lead to four points.
But the visitors hit straight back and had a try disallowed when second-row Scott Cummings appeared to score. However, upon referral to the television match official, the try was ruled out because there was a hand holding the ball up.
Steyn put Glasgow ahead as he ran in from 45 metres out after gathering a perfectly executed cross-kick from Hastings, who converted to put the visitors 27-24 ahead with 15 minutes remaining.
La Rochelle threw everything at Glasgow and very nearly went back ahead when Rattez burst clear only to be denied a try by a last-gasp tackle from Ali Price.