Warriors run Irish ragged
GLASGOW WARRIORS may have been without a host of internationals, but they still put on a superb display in the west of Ireland to run out deserved six tries to two winners at the Sportsground in Galway.
They were on top for long periods but, reversing the trend which has seen them get 65 per cent of their scores before the break in this campaign, did not pull away until the second half.
Warriors were on top in the set-piece and full of running throughout, much to the delight of attack and backs coach Nigel Carolan, back at the venue where he served as a player, academy manager and coach.
Head coach Danny Wilson said: “He said that in the changing room after the game. When you come back to your home, whether you’re a player or part of the staff, it’s a big day for all of us.
“I thought we controlled the breakdown much better this week than it was last week. On top of that, what was more pleasing was the likes of Ollie Smith, who I thought was outstanding amongst other players. For such a young 15 to start in a game like this, I thought we did really well. I thought we controlled the game well. We attacked well, our set-piece was good and we put a lot of pressure on their line-out.”
Glasgow led 17-10 at the end of a good opening half where both sides had periods of dominance but Connacht’s line-out woes proved costly as they coughed up four of their own throws. Glasgow targeted that area from the outset and it paid dividends.
But Glasgow also targeted out wide and their ability to spread it quickly had Andy Friend’s men on the back foot for long periods.
Glasgow kept the ball in hand playing into the fresh breeze on a dry, sunny day and they got a foothold early on when they worked it through the phases after a penalty to the right corner and it ended on the other wing with Rufus McClean ruining Tiernan O’Halloran’s 200th appearance for Connacht when he squeezed under him to score. Duncan Weir was unable to add the difficult conversion.
A yellow card to Richie Gray for a tip-tackle on Eoghan Masterson was punished by Connacht. They managed to build the phases and a penalty to the left corner was recycled across before scrum-half Kieran Marmion fed his debutant partner Cathal Forde and he drew the cover before sending Sammy Arnold in for a good try, which the 20-year-old out-half converted to edge Connacht 7-5 in front after 12 minutes.
Glasgow, though, managed the remaining period without Gray and they hit the front not long after his return with another well-worked move off a line-out. George Horne and Sione Tuipulotu combined to send Kyle Steyn through and he handed off Tom Farrell before scoring near the posts. Weir added the extras to lead 12-7.
It got better for Warriors four minutes from the break when sustained pressure and patience was rewarded after a good turnover by Tom Gordon led to a penalty to the corner. Connacht defended the initial drive but hooker Dave Heffernan was pinged for not rolling away and Warriors got the drive and skipper Fraser Brown got the touchdown.
Weir was again unable to convert and Connacht cut the gap just before the break when Forde landed a penalty from 35 metres to leave seven between them at the interval.
Connacht got on top after the re-start and were level inside four minutes. They were patient in attack inside the 22 and while captain Jarrad Butler was held up just short, his No.8 Paul Boyle picked and squeezed over. Forde converted to level after 44 minutes.
Weir hit back with a penalty in front of the posts to restore Glasgow’s lead but Forde cancelled that after 51 minutes.
But then the Warriors pressure finally paid off. Boyle was binned as Connacht coughed up penalties. Warriors opted not to kick in front of the posts and while Connacht defended that drive, they turned the screw and scored 12 points with the extra man. Both McClean and Steyn got their second tries to lead 32-20 after 63 minutes as their strong running, led by the superb Sione Tuipulotu, cut the home cover to shreds with some magnificent rugby.
Connacht were unable to rally and after Weir put three scores between them with a penalty, they completed the rout when replacement hooker Jonny Matthews scored in the final play.