24-point Thomson puts the boot into sloppy Scarlets

A MAN of the match display and 24 points from Glasgow fly-half Brandon Thomson saw Warriors home despite having only 14-men.

This spicy affair was heated up by a contentious red-card for loosehead Alex Allen in the 18th minute for a shoulder-tohead tackle on Wales international Jake Ball.

The win ends a fivegame Glasgow drought against Scarlets dating back to April 2016 and reinforces their position at the helm of Conference A.

South African agegrade international Thomson said: “We’ve been working hard on kicking out-of-hand and profited from that extra training.

“Rather than being worried when we went down to 14, the boys knew they had to step-up and we did pretty good.”

Scarlets playmaker Rhys Patchell got an early score after a collapsed scrum but Glasgow were in the ascendancy and Thomson levelled.

In the 18th minute, the Llanelli-based side put together six quick phases before lock Ball was takenoff with a head injury while Allen was sent off, but crucially Thomson’s boot got the next score.

Ball’s replacement Lewis Rawlins then escaped a dubious tackle in the air on centre Stafford McDowall, but in the 27th minute, as the Welsh-side struggled to defend their try-line, he was sin-binned for a cynical tackle.

At the restart, Thomson sold a cheeky dummy and crossed the white-wash.

The away-side were

denied a golden chance when Patchell tripped over team-mate prop Rob Evans before another bit of class by Patchell sent No.8 Uzair Cassiem just a fraction short.

But the recycled ball was turned over with Glasgow wing Niko Matawalu breaking clear before being pushed into touch.

After half-time Glasgow upped a gear. A turnover from a Scarlets lineout and a kick-chase by fullback Ruaridh Jackson landed perfectly for centre Nick Grigg to run over.

Thomson added sixpoint with the boot and Scarlets got a second sinbinning when replacement Tom Phillips shoulder connected with Warriors lock Tim Swinson’s head.

Skipper Jonathan Davies’ interception and break went cross-field for Steff Evans to score and replacement Clayton Blommetjies finished a beautiful passage of play but any come-back was thwarted by a late Thomson penalty.

Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac said: “They thoroughly deserved their victory. Glasgow were winning the contact area through body position and desire. We weren’t that accurate and they punished us.

“It’s very disappointing, our discipline let us down with 16 penalties. We’re very disappointed with our form on the road, that has to change.”