Birthday boy Peter starts the party for Glasgow

PETER MURCHIE celebrated his birthday by stepping out of the shadow of regular full-back Stuart Hogg to score two vital tries that puts Glasgow’s Guinness Pro12 campaign firmly back on track.

The bonus-point victory was also the perfect boost ahead of their must-win European Champions Cup match against Munster at Scotstoun next weekend.

In a match that Glasgow dominated it was Murchie, who only gets a chance to play when Hogg is rested which was the case against Cardiff or away on Scotland duty, who stole the show.

Finn Russell, whose poor clearance kick gifted Cardiff a try, may have been the man of the moment because of interest from clubs like Toulon, but it was the full-back who got two of the four touchdowns.

In a top-class performance, Murchie did not put a foot wrong in a Glasgow team that controlled play from first to last.

It was no surprise that at the final whistle Murchie made straight for winger Tommy Seymour, who had helped set up both of his tries with superb, angled solo runs.

Glasgow showed their intent from the first whistle with Ryan Wilson being held up just short of the opposition line in their first attack.

That was followed by Russell being tackled just short in a frantic first 12 minutes, during which time the Cardiff players never left their own half.

The first time they did was when they restarted the match after Glasgow’s first try.

The touchdown came after good work by Josh Strauss, who brushed aside two tackles. He managed to get the ball to Tim Swinson, who set off on a storming run that took Glasgow to a few metres from the line.

Ali Price then played a short pass to hooker Pat MacArthur, who was able to squeeze through a narrow gap in the stretched Cardiff defence to dive between the posts.

With Russell’s conversion, the early seven points were just reward for the high-tempo start made by the home side.

Gregor Townsend’s men should have scored more points through their early domination as failing to do so allowed Cardiff to gain a foothold in the game.

In their first attack, the visitors came close to scoring against the run of play. It looked a formality for Alex Cuthbert to score in the corner from a pass from James Down, but the Welsh international winger knocked the ball on with the line at his mercy.

After Cardiff weathered the early storm, the game became bogged down in midfield with neither side making many advances.

When Glasgow did get another chance to put points on the board, rather than kick for the corner and go for a second try, Russell put over a simple penalty to keep the score-board ticking over.

He may be in demand but the fly-half showed he is human by an uncharacteristic mistake that allowed Cardiff back into the game.

His misplaced kick for Seymour fell kindly for Cardiff winger Blaine Scully, who gratefully picked the ball up to score in the corner. The conversion from Steven Shingler was the last kick of the half and cut the deficit to just three points.

Shingler got the visitors off to the best possible start to the second half with a penalty.

Then Glasgow got their second try of the match in spectacular style. Russell started the move that led to Seymour running a great angle that cut open the Cardiff defence. Alex Dunbar took the ball on and was stopped just short by Matthew Morgan.

Glasgow kept their discipline with the ball being fed back to Murchie, who managed to twist and turn his body enough to fall backwards over the line. The conversion from Russell put the home side back in the lead.

Seymour set up Glasgow’s third try after yet another superb break. As he straightened up, Russell was on his shoulder to pick the ball out and feed Mark Bennett who played in Murchie for his second try of the match, with Russell putting over the extras.

The vital fourth try that secured the bonus point came from some good, old-fashioned forward play. After a perfectly formed maul, replacement James Malcolm emerged from the pack to make the touchdown.

With the game in the bag and the bonus point secured with 12 minutes still to go there was a far more relaxed atmosphere around Scotstoun.

The crowd, who had been tense up until the fourth try, found their voice as they watched their team run the show.

With three minutes left, Cardiff got a consolation try through Rhun Williams as Glasgow started to take their foot off the gas.

It made no difference to the outcome, with Glasgow running down the clock for a well-deserved victory that puts them back in the chase for an end of season play-off place.