WARRIORS SET UP A HEINEKEN DOUBLE
Rennie tells Glasgow to up their game for Sarries after nervy win over Cardiff
SCOTLAND will have two teams in the knockout stage of the Heineken Champions Cup for the first time if Edinburgh defeat Montpellier at BT Murrayfield on Friday night. Glasgow Warriors kept up their side of the bargain with a 33-24 victory over Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun yesterday — and Dave Rennie’s side will have already qualified before Saturday’s final Pool Three game away at Saracens if Edinburgh clinch top spot in Pool Five by beating Montpellier in the capital clash. Glasgow coach Rennie said: ‘Our mates down the road can do us a favour if they win on Friday night but we have got to go with the mindset that we need to win to try and win the Pool ourselves. ‘It’s another couple of rungs up, isn’t it? ‘You have got to defend well against Saracens — but we have got it within us and we are looking forward to it.’
Glasgow warriors have one foot in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup after a nerve-jangling victory over Cardiff yesterday.
and their place in the last eight could even be confirmed before they take on saracens this saturday — if Edinburgh defeat Montpellier on Friday night at BT Murrayfield.
In that event, both scottish teams would have qualified for the knockout stage for the first time.
warriors’ 19-point tally is the best of all five second-placed teams, with one game left and only the three best runners-up qualifying.
a bonus-point victory against sarries at allianz stadium could be enough to secure top spot in Pool Three — and coach Dave Rennie warned his side they would have to improve to compete with the English giants.
Tries from hooker grant stewart, second-row scott Cummings, back-row Chris Fusaro, prop oli Kebble and replacement scrum-half george Horne secured the win for glasgow.
Rennie admitted they made heavy weather of it, with Cardiff only four points behind in the closing stages before Horne went over to seal the win.
‘we will go to london and have a decent crack at it and we’ll prepare accordingly,’ said Rennie after his side arrested a three-game losing sequence by beating the Blues. ‘we will have to take it up a couple of rungs, won’t we?
‘we’ve got to defend really well against them, have the same sort of intensity and be a little bit more clinical with ball in hand than we were the last time we played them when they beat us at scotstoun. we’ve got it in us and we’re looking forward to it.
‘saracens have enough points to qualify already, I think, in first or second position but they will still want to win the pool and be in the driver’s spot at our expense.
‘with saracens, they’ve got such depth that it doesn’t matter who they put out. They’re still going to have such a good side but I think they’ll go full-strength against us.’
Influential co-captain Callum gibbins is likely to miss the trip to london after picking up a knee injury against Cardiff, while back-row forward Matt Fagerson is a doubt after leaving the field with a shoulder injury.
‘obviously, we lost a couple of reasonable players, which isn’t great,’ said Rennie. ‘Callum didn’t look too good and he’ll be doubtful for next week, definitely. His initial injury was his knee but it might be more sinister than that. Matt was a shoulder, which is why he had to come off.’
This was a dour match at times, despite the number of tries. The early play, in particular, was littered with mistakes.
The first error came from stuart Hogg when he kicked the ball dead behind the Cardiff Blues line from his own half after underestimating the strong wind at his back.
Fagerson had to go off with an injury to his right shoulder after just eight minutes, with the experienced Tim swinson coming off the bench in his place.
a minute later, the home side nearly took the lead when ali Price’s quick tap-penalty looked to have put winger DTH van der Merwe in at the corner.
His celebrations were cut short when the TMo ruled that he had a foot in touch and told referee J P Doyle to rule the try out.
Four minutes after that, glasgow were forced into their second change when gibbins picked up a knee injury and had to be helped off the park. Fusaro took over.
Being forced to make two changes to the pack so early was far from ideal for a glasgow side that was chasing a bonus-point win.
Uncharacteristically, Hogg made the same mistake when he once again misread the strength of the wind and kicked the ball dead behind the Cardiff line for a second time.
For all their possession and territory, it took glasgow 26 minutes to assume the lead after turning down three penalties in favour of kicking to the corner.
at the fourth attempt, Hogg’s kick to the corner set up a line-out taken by hooker stewart, who found his jumper swinson.
The driving maul was formed and then the ball fed back to stewart, who was guided over the try line by his pack. Fly-half Brandon Thomson put over the conversion.
Three minutes later, a great break by Tommy seymour saw swinson stopped just short as glasgow started to get into their stride.
The warriors scrum had the upper hand and they went further ahead six minutes later. The ball was won at the set-piece by Price, who played in Cummings to score. Thomson put over the extras.
Nick grigg nearly managed a third try before Cardiff got on the scoresheet following a rare break.
Harri Millard started the move which led to full-back Dan Fish getting on the end of a kick ahead.
although the Cardiff man looked slightly offside, the ball came off Hogg and into his arms, allowing
him to play in winger owen lane for the score. In 48 minutes, glasgow secured their third try after another kick to the corner from Hogg.
From the line-out, there was no stopping the driving maul, with Fusaro coming up with the ball. Thomson’s conversion went over via the crossbar.
Cardiff weren’t for throwing in the towel and got their second try of the game in fine style with 58 minutes on the clock. Quick hands along the line ended with lane playing in Millard.
Two minutes later, glasgow scored their vital fourth try, which secured the bonus-point through sheer brute force.
a tap penalty from Price caught the Cardiff defence on the hop and a burst from Kebble helped him over. Thomson took care of the extras.
Cardiff came straight back at them and, in 65 minutes, Millard set up Josh Navidi to score a try. Replacement Jarrod Evans put over the tricky conversion.
with nine minutes remaining, the nerves started to jangle when lane went under the posts after a training-ground move from the scrum for a fourth Cardiff try that earned them a bonus point.
Evans’ conversion cut the deficit to just four points.
glasgow responded superbly and showed great character to camp themselves deep in the Cardiff half for the rest of the game.
with three minutes left, the pressure was eased when replacement scrum-half Horne went over after picking up the ball at the back of the scrum.
at the final whistle there was sheer relief on the faces of the glasgow players who are now within touching distance of a quarter-final place.