Warriors and Chiefs serve up cracker in Champions Cup
Hogg almost steals it as penalty comes off bar, but Exeter seal last-eight place in thrilling draw
With the 80 minutes already up and the scores tied at 31-31, a feverish hush descended over Scotstoun as former Warriors full-back Stuart Hogg lined up a penalty kick from his own 10-metre line. As Hogg’s enormous wind-assisted kick arced towards the posts through the lashing rain the whole stadium waited, only for the ball to smash back off the crossbar, effectively ending this extraordinary game.
It was a moment of high drama that perfectly captured the essence of a remarkable game. If this is how Glasgow ultimately go out of the tournament – the three points claimed via a bonuspoint draw mean it is theoretically possible for them still to go through – no one can claim that they left anything out there. For Exeter, three points ensured they go through, probably with a home quarter-final.
It was a breathless game of eight tries, two yellow cards and a brace of butchered Huw Jones try-scoring opportunities that will doubtless give the centre sleepless nights. Nor are those the only moments Glasgow will rue: at least two other opportunities went begging when the ball refused to sit up for the chasing Warriors. The last cut was the cruellest of all, though, with what should have been Sam Johnson’s winning try 10 minutes from time being chalked off for a forward pass by Adam Hastings.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter has had a miserable week. It started with a tight turnaround from last Sunday’s league game, then came a spate of injuries, followed by the team bus getting snarled up in an independence march on the way to the game. No wonder he spoke afterwards like a man who was just happy to have come through it all relatively unscathed. For Warriors head coach Dave Rennie it was another opportunity squandered, whether through the unlucky bounce of the ball, some unsympathetic refereeing from Romain Poite or his own side’s inability to stymie Exeter’s close-quarter power. “We’re disappointed because we did enough to get five points,” Rennie said. “We couldn’t get the ball to sit up – we scored off one, but we had four other opportunities where if she sits up, we score. So there’s a bit of frustration with that and the disallowed try so late on, and letting in a couple of soft tries. But I’m really happy with the character and courage shown.” Glasgow operated at a high tempo and ran Exeter ragged at times, three of their four tries coming out wide. While the Chiefs also played with an unusual expansiveness they got little change out of the Warriors resolute wide defence, but when they got into the red zone their punishing pick-and-goes did the damage, three of their tries coming from closerange forward surges, with the fourth a lengthy breakaway. Glasgow’s Tommy Seymour opened the scoring down the blindside with barely a minute gone. When Jones went over after seven minutes, a huge upset looked on the cards, only for a misplaced pass from Johnson to Jones allowing Nic White to hack downfield and score under the posts.
One of the game’s defining moments came after 24 minutes, when Warriors captain Calum Gibbins was shown a yellow card for what Rennie dismissed as a run-of-the-mill collision at a ruck, with Exeter taking full advantage as first No8 Matt Kvesic and then openside Jacques Vermeulen forced their way over after multiple pick-and-goes on Glasgow’s line.
When scrum-half George Horne went over on the stroke of half-time after a jinking break by Hastings, the match turned around at 24-24.
At Sandy Park, the Warriors were sunk during the third quarter, but after the break here they dominated and had Jones managed to take either of two gilt-edged chances immediately after the break, the home side would have been on the front foot. Instead, Fraser Brown was shown a yellow card for persistent infringements and Exeter again took advantage, Kvesic claiming a second try from close range.
As soon as Glasgow were back up to a full complement, they responded with a line-out drive that ended with the unlikely figure of Niko Matawalu coming up with the ball for a bonus-point try that made it 31-31. Yet despite their frantic efforts as the clock wound down, they were unable to fashion the winning score, Hastings turning down a shot at goal from the 10-metre line, his 40-metre dropped goal into the wind falling well short, and his forward pass to Johnson resulting in the centre’s score being chalked off.
It will not matter that Glasgow came within a forward pass of inflicting only the second bonus-point loss endured by Exeter in 17 games in Europe if they slip out of the competition. No matter whether they register a bonus-point win at Sale next week, that is in others’ hands in a season that will go down as the Warriors’ “what-if” year. For the Chiefs, this draw felt like a win for a side who have underachieved badly in the Champions Cup before but who now march on to the quarter-finals.