Glasgow fail to pounce and pay the price
THE biblical weather which can so often engulf the Sportsground in Galway was nowhere to be seen. Yet, in a helter-skelter contest, the floodgates still opened and Glasgow Warriors were washed away.
In their first match of the new Pro14 season, Danny Wilson’s men leaked too many penalties — 13 at the final count — and had no answer to the thunderously powerful figure of Connacht’s Bundee Aki.
In a deluge of five second-half tries between both teams, Ireland centre Aki helped himself to a brace as a previously timid encounter burst into life.
Glasgow really ought to have been further ahead at half-time. They led 7-3 at the break, but that was scant reward and there was a definite sense that they had let Connacht off the hook.
The fact that the Warriors played 10 minutes of the first half against 14 men, yet failed to score a point, told its own story. They were masters of their own downfall.
That said, there was a lot to like about them. Huw Jones, for instance, excelled once again at full-back and scored an excellent try. But Wilson admitted it was a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly.
‘I am very disappointed,’ said the Glasgow head coach, whose side picked up a losing bonus point. ‘Our discipline really let us down. We gave away far too many soft penalties in key areas and at key times in the game.
‘To go away from home and score 24 points, you should win the game. So that tells us a lot about the same areas we need to keep banging away at.
‘Take nothing away from Connacht, they managed certain situations better than we did. We got ourselves into a good position at half-time, but just lost our way in the second half.
‘We scored three tries and played some really good rugby at times. But we made some poor decisions and left ourselves really exposed.’
Glasgow found themselves under the cosh right from the off, with Connacht fly-half Jack Carty slotting a penalty after 60 seconds.
Carty then let Glasgow off the hook on 10 minutes when he missed an even easier chance than the one he had put over.
Warriors slowly began to feel their way into the contest. While they occasionally lacked some cohesion and fluency in attack, there’s no doubting they had their moments.
Latching on to a lovely pass from Adam Hastings, Jones made a great break and was racing away towards the try-line. Tackled just short, Jones tried to pop the ball off to Robbie Nairn, but it went to ground and a good chance was squandered.
Handling errors were to become a feature of Nairn’s play. The big winger scored a brace of tries when these teams met at Scotstoun in February 2019, but his rustiness was indicative of a man starting his first match in over a year.
Connacht lock Quinn Roux was sent to the sin bin on 20 minutes after he gave away back-to-back penalties in quick succession.
Yet, from a position in front of the posts which was effectively a gimmie, Hastings shanked the ball wide to let the hosts off the hook.
Connacht retained their 3-0 lead throughout Roux’s absence and, with Glasgow lacking a cutting edge and squandering easy points from in front of the posts, there was a feeling this could be one of those nights.
But, as the clock ticked into the red towards the end of the first half, they finally found the breakthrough that their play had begun to merit.
The ball went through the hands of Scott Cummings and Ali Price, before Hastings fed Nick Grigg.
The pint-sized centre, who looks to have beefed-up during lockdown, hit a great line and scurried in to score, with Hastings adding the extras to give Glasgow a half-time lead of 7-3.
It had been a scrappy affair — but a booming penalty from Hastings shortly after the interval extended Glasgow’s lead to 10-3.
Yet, that seemed to be the cue for Connacht to take the game by the scruff of the neck. The Irish side scored a quickfire brace of tries to turn the match on its head.
The first came after a good break from Tom Farrell, whose offload found midfield partner Aki. The mountainous Ireland centre made no mistake and revelled in the celebrations.
Roux then made amends just five minutes later for his earlier yellow card when he powered over from close range to score under the posts. Carty added the extras to put the hosts 17-10 ahead.
The game had now exploded into life — and Glasgow came storming back on the hourmark. It was a lovely, well-constructed team move, but the finish was vintage Jones. Hitting a great line to collect a clever ball inside from Fraser Brown, Jones jinked his way from two Connacht defenders to score under the posts. Hastings converted to tie the scores once again.
Connacht then edged in front through another penalty from Carty, before Aki got his second try of the night by finishing off a lethal counter-attack to score in the corner.
Glasgow, though, refused to simply lie down and accept their fate.
After some slick passing from Pete Horne and Grigg, a clinical finish from Tommy Seymour and another Hastings conversion moved Glasgow to within a point at 25-24 heading into the final 10 minutes.
But Connacht were able to hold on, with a late penalty from Carty extending their margin of victory to four points.
SCORERS; Connacht — Tries: Aki (2), Roux. Cons: Carty (2). Pens: Carty (3).
Glasgow — Tries: Grigg, H Jones, Seymour. Cons: Hastings (3). Pen: Hastings.
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales).