HALFWAY THERE AND SCOTS LOOK LIKELY TO LAND A KNOCKOUT BLOW
HATS off to Glasgow Warriors. It’s never easy winning anywhere away from home in Europe — and that applies tenfold when you’re playing in France.
But they got the job done with minimal fuss and deserve huge credit for returning home with a bonus-point victory to show for their efforts.
The match looked like it was in the balance when Lyon scored shortly after half-time. That brought them to within eight points and it could have been six had they kicked the conversion.
But Glasgow simply had too much. The tight five were excellent, really fronting up and providing the platform to run in a further three tries thereafter to take the game away from their opponents.
Oli Kebble was outstanding. He is such a powerful presence, both in the scrum and also in the loose.
In the back row, Adam Ashe fully justified Dave Rennie’s faith in him. It was a gutsy selection call, but Ashe repaid his coach with two tries in a magnificent performance.
He is such a dynamic player who always seems to get across the gain-line. The way he picked up and charged over from the back of the scrum for the game’s final try also showed just how confident he is just now.
The player who really stood out for me, though, was George Horne. It was only right that he was named man of the match.
He was such an electric presence around the scrum and the base of the ruck.
He is a livewire and the type of player who always excites the fans because it always seems like he might sneak through a gap and create something.
He draws defenders on to him but always has the presence of mind to pop lovely little passes on to his team-mates, as he did for Ashe’s opening try.
When he’s in the form that he showed yesterday, Horne is up there with the very best running scrum-halves in world rugby.
He is the perfect foil for Greig Laidlaw in the Scotland team. For me, the current pecking order is Laidlaw, Horne, then Ali Price.
Price is an excellent player in his own right and is very similar to Horne in terms of style. But, on current form, Horne just shades it.
There will be tougher tests to come for Horne. Can he still influence a match when a team close down the space for him to break into?
But, when a game is open, he is as good as anyone else in the world game.
He’s in a hell of a battle with Price. As well as Horne played yesterday, Rennie is such a shrewd operator that he might well play Price in the return game against Lyon next week.
He seems to know how to keep everyone hungry and motivated. He sees the value in having the players guessing as to who is getting the jersey each week.
He has at his disposal two scrum-halves who fit perfectly into his full-throttle attacking style. Picking between the two is a great problem to have. The game could be wide open for Glasgow next week. I know how the French mindset works and, with Lyon now effectively knocked out of Europe, they will turn their attention to the Top14.
If that is reflected in a weakened team selection for the game at Scotstoun, then Glasgow should take full advantage and look to run riot.
It could be a chance to get another bonuspoint victory. That could be vital because, if Saracens go ahead and win the pool, Glasgow need all points they can get to progress as one of best runners-up.
Huge credit to Edinburgh, as well, who secured another massive result on Friday night by beating Newcastle Falcons.
That’s now two huge victories on the bounce and Richard Cockerill’s men are on a roll.
Newcastle had some issues with their team selection and were slightly weakened, but that doesn’t diminish just how impressive Edinburgh were.
On their day, they are a match for any team in Europe. And I do mean anyone.
We’re at the halfway point and there’s still every chance both Scottish clubs could progress into the knockout stages.
You’d have been able to get good odds on that at the start of the campaign but, if they can both back up their results next week, it will put them in a great position.