Glasgow power on to first Euro final
GLASGOW deservedly qualified for their first European final by scoring five tries to one against injury-ravaged Scarlets.
At times the Scots made hard work of quelling spirited opposition but ultimately Glasgow showed why they finished ten places ahead of the Welsh region in the URC table.
Luckless Scarlets lost three players in the first half and influential No.8, Vaea Fifita soon afterwards but they still led 17-14 until Glasgow executed a more realistic game plan to score 21 unanswered points.
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith said: “We were very jittery in the first half as Scarlets did well to unsettle us so at half-time it was important to settle us down and there is a lot of learning to take from that performance.”
Glasgow made an explosive start to take an early lead with excellent ball-retention and quick passing resulting in Stafford McDowall scoring the opening try.
Scarlets were soon dealt two further blows when Javan Sebastian and Johnny Williams left the field to failed HIAs.
However they overcame these setbacks to score next with two penalties in quick succession from Sam Costelow.
In an error-ridden first half-hour, some of the decision-making beggared belief and it came as no surprise when another mistake gifted Scarlets a try. From a five-metre lineout, George Turner overthrew to give possession to Scarlets, who capitalised when a long pass from Johnny McNicholl created a walk-in for Steff Evans.
Lock Morgan Jones became the third Scarlet to depart for a failed HIA but a third penalty from Costelow gave them a 14-7 interval lead.
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Three minutes after the restart, Glasgow scored their second try when JP du Preez broke through to feed Scott Cummings, who sent George Horne over.
Worse was to follow for Scarlets when their replacement, Sam Wainwright was yellow carded for a high tackle but Costelow put them back in front with another penalty. 12 Penalties conceded 12 10 Lineouts won 13 4 Lineouts lost 3 6 Scrums won 5 0 Scrums lost 0 1 Sin bin 0
Fifita limped off before Glasgow regained the lead when Johnny Matthews finished off a driving lineout to become the first player in their history to score 13 tries in a season.
Wainwright returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Glasgow score their fourth when Rory Darge took advantage of another badly misjudged lineout throw from Ken Owens.
The controversial moment came in the 67th minute when Glasgow’s full-back, Ollie Smith, appeared to deliberately knock-on a scoring pass from McNicholl to Evans but the referee saw no fault in Smith’s action and with that decision went Scarlets’ last chance of victory as Mcdowall crashed over for his second in the final minute.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “At 28-17, I was disappointed with the referee’s call as that decision could easily have gone our way, which could have made a difference.
“At half-time we were right in it but Glasgow started both halves well and had the edge in the set-piece.
“We had three HIAs in the first 20 minutes, which is unheard of, and that made it extremely difficult as we had no fresh legs to bring on later.”
McNicholl 8, Steff Evans 7, Roberts 5, Williams 6 (Nicholas 7, 7), Conbeer 6, Costelow 7, Davies 6 (Hardy 54, 6), W Jones 6 (Mathias 54, 6), Owens 7 (Shaun Evans 72, 6), Sebastian 5 (Wainwright 3, 6), Lousi 7, M Jones 7 (Tuipulotu 35, 6), Davis 6, Fifita 7 (Rees 48, 6), Macleod (c) 6
D Jones
Smith 6, Cancelliere 6 (Price 72, 6) Tuipulotu 7, McDowall 7, Steyn (c) 7, Jordan 6 (Weir 79, 6), Horne 8, Bhati 7 (McBeth 47, 6), Turner 6 (Matthews 47, 7), Z Fagerson 7 (Berghan 72, 6), Cummings 8 (Wilson 79, 6), du Preez 8, Darge 8, Vailanu 7 (M Fagerson 52, 6), Dempsey 8 (Bean 72, 6)