PUSHED TO THE MAX
Williamson gets in on scoring act as Warriors revived
GLASGOW .... 17 CARDIFF...13
GRAEME MACPHERSON AT SCOTSTOUN
FRANCO SMITH hailed his battling Warriors as they survived a Cardiff onslaught and Scotstoun storm to go level on points at the URC summit.
Glasgow struggled to get a grip of the conditions before the break as their Welsh opposition notched up 13 unanswered points.
But Smith’s men fought back in the second half through tries from Max Williamson and Lucio Sordoni to grab the lead.
And they did enough to see things out to go level on points with leaders Leinster – for 24 hours at least.
Smith said: “I’m happy with the win. We would have loved to play the brand and style we wanted to but the weather didn’t allow us to.
“Cardiff were excellent, the way they physically approached this game. They were very good in the breakdown, the set-piece and they physically dominated us in most areas of the pitch. It was a good learning curve for the young boys out there.
“To come back from the 13-0 deficit was important – it shows a bit of character that the team will need.
“We want this to be the toughest place to come in the URC and I’m glad the boys kept that up.”
Cardiff forged into an early lead when Johnny Matthews was pinged for not rolling away and Tinus de Beer knocked over the penalty.
Tom Jordan mishit one kick straight into touch before Duncan Weir failed to find the stand with an effort that instead sailed straight into Cardiff arms.
Cardiff were awarded a scrum penalty and de Beer again split the posts to double their lead.
It could have got worse for Glasgow after Weir was sloppy with a pass that Cardiff kicked towards the Warriors line. Mason Grady outpaced Seb Cancelliere to get to the ball first before kicking it out of touch.
Cardiff kept knocking on the door and put together multiple phases on the Glasgow line, only for the ball to be held up by Williamson.
But the Welsh side weren’t to be denied when they landed the first try of the game just minutes later through Ben Thomas before de Beer made a difficult conversion from out wide.
Glasgow had one late firsthalf flurry when Kyle Steyn burst through a gap but when he was dispossessed, the chance was gone.
The home fans needed something to cheer about and it came just minutes into the second half as Warriors landed their first try. Jamie Dobie got things moving as he burst forward off the back of the scrum before feeding Steyn.
When the captain was stopped, Dobie found Williamson who powered over for his first career try.
Cardiff looked to have hit back right away but Thomas was adjudged to have been held up on the line.
Warriors quickly claimed their second try with Sordoni burrowing over the line as ref Frank Murphy sank to the ground to make sure the ball had been grounded.
Weir’s conversion gave Warriors the lead.
Weir knocked a penalty over at the end to stretch Glasgow’s lead before a Steyn score was chalked off.