GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH GUINNESS PRO12 ACTION
THE SCARLETS leapfrogged their hosts to nudge Glasgow out of the play-off spots in the Guinness Pro12 last night by taking their chances in a game of few highlights at Scotstoun.
First-half tries from Tom Williams and James Davies brought the Scarlets back from an early Pat MacArthur try, with Glasgow lacking the cohesion and accuracy to find a way back.
These are always strange affairs when the star attractions are off on Six Nations duty — and there was inevitable rustiness among what was virtually the Glasgow reserve side and barely half of the Scarlets’ regular team.
But the points still matter — and perhaps matter more — as these periods are so often when title campaigns are ruined.
Glasgow needed victory to stay in the top four, with away games against play-off rivals Ulster and Ospreys to come over the next fortnight.
They started strongly, the pack winning a penalty at the first scrum and Rory Clegg converting for a 3-0 lead in the third minute.
But Scarlets set a trend for the game by responding quickly, stand-off Dan Jones slotting a long-range penalty.
The Welshmen then lost Jones to the sin-bin after 15 minutes when he took out Sam Johnson after the Glasgow centre had kicked ahead, and the Warriors took advantage to kick to the corner and drive the lineout to the Scarlets’ line, where hooker MacArthur dived over.
Even down to 14 men, however, the Scarlets again came back, putting good phases together deep in the home half and waiting until Glasgow ran out of defenders, wing Williams eventually rounding the defence on the right.
He converted his own try to put his side 10-8 up — and, after Clegg and Jones had traded penalties, worse was to follow when Scarlets repeated the feat.
With some intelligent play, they kept the ball well inside the Glasgow 22 before Olympics sevens star Davies finished off in the same right-hand corner in the last minute, with Jones converting for a 20-11 half-time lead.
Glasgow lost MacArthur at halftime and Johnson early in the second half to injuries, and while there were great cheers for the return of popular internationals Sean Lamont and Richie Vernon, there was little improvement in the on-field quality.
Clegg brought the Scarlets back within range with a 45-metre penalty, but his side continued to cough up ball in good attacking positions and cost themselves points with little errors, Jones converting his third penalty off a Grigg mistake to put them 23-14 up going into the last quarter.
Irish referee George Clancy is never popular in these parts and his stock hit rock bottom when he reviewed a clean-out by Scarlets lock Tom Price, where he knocked Rory Hughes backwards with a shoulder, countless times in the freezing cold, and decided a warning would suffice.
When they followed up by screaming for a penalty on a tackle, that was neither too high nor dangerous, it was clear Clancy had become the target of fans’ frustration at their team’s inability to manufacture anything like a scoring chance.
Sub Aled Thomas added another penalty for the visitors for a 12-point winning margin — and the final whistle proved a mercy as the 7,000-plus fans streamed away from Scotstoun.
After the excitement of qualifying for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals, Glasgow’s vulnerability without their star men has left them with much work to do to keep alive hopes of reaching the Pro12 play-offs into March.