WARRIORS LATE SHOW CAN’T
MUCH too little, much too late is the only way to describe Glasgow Warriors’ defeat in Swansea.
Having fallen behind by 29 points after 78 minutes, with only a last-gasp penalty at the end of the first half to show for their efforts, they mounted a consolation rally to score two tries in two minutes.
The question for head coach Franco Smith is where was all that energy and effort earlier in the game? Having trailed 10-3 at the break, and then failed to take advantage of an extra man when Dan Lydiate was sent to the sin-bin, they let the home side build up a head of steam and grab a bonus point before they had even fired a telling shot.
True, they manufactured what would have been the try of the match in the first half had the eagle-eyed TMO not spotted a knock-on on the floor by Scott Cummings as the move began on their 22, but there was little to shout about until the end.
‘Our performance wasn’t as bad as the scoreline suggested, but we were too inaccurate and there were too many execution errors,’ said Smith.
‘We did well in the first quarter to keep them out, but we were forced to make too many tackles and didn’t have enough consistency in the contact area. There were some important calls in the game that didn’t go our way with a couple of the tries and the one we had ruled out by the TMO was followed by a penalty that made it a 10-point swing.’
Both sides were forced into making changes to their back rows in the opening 12 minutes. First, the Ospreys lost No 9 Ethan Roots to a head knock and
then the Warriors’ No8, Jack Dempsey had to go off with a rib problem.
Welsh outside-half Gareth Anscombe was also forced out of the game in the second half with a rib injury after being barged by George Turner. Home coach Toby Booth said he would be reviewing the incident and maybe bring it to the attention of the citing officer as a late hit.
It took almost 30 minutes before the first score came in a game that was dominated by defences in the early
stages. The Ospreys conceded a penalty at their own scrum five metres out from the Glasgow line to lose one great scoring opportunity and then they had a try by Keelan Giles ruled out from a knock-on.
Zander Fagerson lost control of the ball in a Glasgow attack in the home 22 and the ball squirted loose to Ospreys full-back Max Nagy. He headed straight upfield, then kicked ahead of the supporting Rhys Webb and Giles to chase. Webb reached for the ball with Rufus McLean and referee Jaco Pyper initially awarded the try to Giles when he flopped on the ball as it went over the line at the posts.
The TMO checked whose hand had knocked it on.
The officials eventually deemed it was Webb’s and ruled out the try. They then ruled in a great finish from Giles in the left corner after Glasgow had been guilty of conceding back-to-back penalties that forced them to defend two line-outs.
The Ospreys pack were held up from the first, but when they ball went wide to Giles he moved outside his opposite number before diving under two covering defenders. Anscombe converted off the touchline to bring the first points of the game in the 29th minute.
Glasgow thought they had scored seven minutes later after a brilliant burst out of defence by full back Cole Forbes paved the way for Sam Johnson to cross at the posts. This time a knock on by Scott Cummings on the floor on his 22 forced the TMO to rule out what would have been a candidate for try of the month.
To make matters worse, Warriors then conceded a penalty which Anscombe kicked to make it a 10-point turn around in the blink of an eye. On the stroke of half-time, Tom Jordan opened the visitor’s account with a penalty that made it 10-3 at the break.
Glasgow started strongly in the second half but then conceded a second try to the speedy Giles when he chased a Webb kick into the 22 from his own 10-metre line and snatched the ball out of the last defender’s hands to score at the posts.
Jack Walsh, who moments earlier had replaced the injured Anscombe, kicked the extras. George North and Reuben Morgan-Williams then added two more tries before the end, one of which Walsh improved, to make it a bonus-point triumph.
Then came that late rally from Glasgow with tries from Oli Kebble and Tom Gordon, but the game was up by then.
SCORERS; Ospreys — Tries: Giles 2, North, Morgan-Williams. Cons: Anscombe, Walsh 2. Pens: Anscombe, Walsh. Glasgow — Tries: Kebble, Gordon. Cons: Miotti 2. Pen: Jordan.