Franco’s men look good to grab that play-off home draw
An impressive first 50 minutes brought Glasgow Warriors 31 unanswered points to set up a valuable win on the road in the battle for a home draw in the URC’s play-off quarter-finals.
Franco Smith’s side have now climbed ahead of Ulster into third in the table, with two games of the regular season left.
They are now six points clear of fifth-placed Munster and need to finish in the top four for a home play-off draw.
The visitors delivered a fifthminute declaration of intent when they rumbled a line-out maul home from 20 yards to the try-line, with Fraser Brown applying the final flourish.
Domingo Miotti added the conversion for good measure.
The hosts rallied, and claimed a series of penalties as they turned the screw on Warriors deep inside the visitors’ half.
And they came close to opening their account twice, but a loose pass from Joey Carberry to the unmarked Shane Daly on the right killed one promising opportunity, and then Gavin Coombes was held up over the line by Sione Vailanu and Zander Fagerson a few minutes later.
The next 10 minutes were all Munster, but Glasgow’s defence frustrated the hosts, and then the visitors struck again when a lovely inside pass from Brown released captain Stafford McDowall.
The big centre stepped past last man Mike Haley like he was stranded in quick-sand and streaked home.
Italian referee Andrea Piardi initially thought a double-tackle on the line from Calvin Nash and Carbery had prevented McDowall getting the ball down.
But when he reviewed the video replay, he was satisfied that the score was good.
Miotti again nailed the tricky conversion and Warriors stretched even further ahead on 31 minutes.
This time, No8 Sione Valianu punched through the middle and then recycled quickly for Miotti to scoot home.
The Argentinean playmaker then fired home an ugly looking conversion to keep his 100 percent record off the tee in this match intact.
Munster pushed hard for a try for the break which would have given them a chink of light to strive towards, but Warriors’ defence again stood firm.
And after their dominant scrum helped relieve the pressure, a free-wheeling Glasgow attack eventually sent Cole Forbes home for the bonus point try on the stroke of half-time
Glasgow started the second half as they finished the first, with a sweeping attack which weas initiated by McDowall and featuring Ali Price, Sam Johnson and Forbes.
This time, Munster’s scramble defence managed to snuff out the danger and Miotti decided to keep the scoreboard ticking over by settling for a drop-goal.
Munster finally got a foothold in the contest in the 52nd minute when muscled over the line for his 13th try of the season, with Joey Carbery adding the extras.
And the clearly energised home side burst straight back onto the offensive from the restart, with livewire replacement scrum-half Craig Casey scampering over for a second try in three minutes.
Glasgow recovered the initiative with a mazy run by Jamie Dobie and a powerful finish from Vailanu.
But Munster wouldn’t lie down and they scored again through replacement prop Josh Wycherley and jack Crowley’s conversion made it 21-38 with just 10 minutes to play.
Warriors looked slightly rattled and a Calvin Nash try with two minutes left meant that Munster came away with a bonus-point – but they didn‘t get any closer.