Weak Warriors outmuscled by stampeding Bulls
BEFORE they had set off for South Africa, Danny Wilson gave his Glasgow Warriors players the target of taking at least one win from their two-game mini tour.
It always looked like it might be a tall order for a team who have too often suffered from bouts of travel sickness this season.
Last night’s match was the same old story as they followed last week’s defeat against the Stormers with another dispiriting loss against the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship.
It was a tough night for Warriors in Pretoria. With the exception of Ryan Wilson, Rob Harley and Ali Price, not many of them emerged with pass marks.
Not for the first time this season, Duncan Weir had a shocker at fly-half in a game where Wilson had hoped his experience would shine through.
Weir was all over the shop at times, sending two kicks out on the full and offering nothing in attack. It summed up his season since returning to Scotstoun.
Glasgow now sit in seventh place and their chances of a home quarter-final in the play-offs look increasingly slim. The failure to take a losing bonus point last night could be particularly costly.
Indeed, depending on how results pan out elsewhere, Glasgow might need to beat Edinburgh in the final game just to make the play-offs at all.
Warriors also lost key back-rower Rory Darge to a knee injury which Wilson admitted ‘doesn’t look good’.
Admitting his team were outmuscled by the Bulls, head coach Wilson said: ‘It’s been difficult. We’ve certainly been taught a few lessons here.
‘We really struggled physically. We struggled to put any dent into the Bulls and we lacked breakdown presence.
‘On top of that, our discipline let us down which has usually been relatively good. We also lost a few players to injury unfortunately.
‘The Bulls are a good, powerful team. I think we lost the physical battle quite comfortably.’
Glasgow made a positive start and raced into a 7-0 lead after just six minutes when they were awarded a penalty try by Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli.
The move came after they won a penalty deep inside the Bulls 22 and opted to kick for touch rather than taking what would have been an easy three points.
Their bravery was rewarded when skipper Wilson rose to win the lineout and the maul rumbled towards the try-line.
It was brought down illegally by Bulls No8 Elrigh Louw, who was sent to the sin bin after the referee awarded Glasgow the penalty try.
But the Bulls fired back just five minutes later. Lock Ruan Nortje was tackled just short of the line but scrum-half Zak Burger picked up the pieces to dart through a gap and score.
Fly-half Morne Steyn slotted the conversion, before Weir kicked a penalty on 20 minutes to put Glasgow 10-7 ahead. But, again, Weir was struggling to convince. He made a woeful unforced error when he kicked a penalty out behind the goal area when he had been aiming for touch instead.
Springboks legend Steyn kicked another penalty to level the scores at 10-10 just before the half-hour mark.
But Glasgow’s discipline was beginning to let them down — and they gifted the Bulls a great chance to take the lead on the cusp of half-time.
Zander Fagerson was the guilty party. The Scotland and Warriors prop was a repeat offender and had conceded a rash of penalties before the referee penalised him again at the breakdown.
He was sent to the sin bin as the Bulls kicked for the corner. From a well-constructed team move, winger Madosh Tambwe was the man who dived over to score.
Steyn nailed the conversion from out wide to give the South Africans a 17-10 lead at half-time. Particularly with the yellow card to Fagerson, it felt like a pivotal passage of play.
Glasgow’s defence was tiring and, on 59 minutes, Bulls lock Walt Steenkamp powered over to score from close range. Steyn added the extras.
Bulls scored their fourth try just three minutes later to wrap up the bonus point through back-rower Cyle Brink.
Now 29-10 behind, it was a case of trying to keep the scoreline respectable from Glasgow’s point of view and perhaps chase a losing bonus point.
Young Warriors full-back Ollie Smith hit a good line to score a late consolation try, but the visitors were well beaten in the end.