Connacht Denied At The Death

Glasgow Warriors missed their chance to move back to the top of the Magners League but fought back valiantly to claim a 19-19 draw with Connacht at the Sportsground.

An injury-time try from flanker James Eddie saw the Warriors dash Connacht’s hopes of a much-needed win and although replacement Colin Gregor flashed his touchline conversion wide of the uprights, Glasgow were still the happier side at the final whistle.

Leading 14-3, thanks to three Ruaridh Jackson penalties and a try from DTH van der Merwe, Glasgow looked set to take the spoils.

However, bottom side Connacht engineered a tremendous fight back with Ian Keatley kicking his third penalty and converting a slick solo try from Gavin Duffy.

Keatley’s fourth successful penalty, three minutes from time and with Glasgow’s Calum Forrester in the sin-bin, looked to be the match-winning score.

But Eddie had other ideas and he scrambled over in the left corner with the grounding confirmed by television match official Dermot Moloney.

Connacht showed their intent early on with a barnstorming run from George Naoupu and chip through from Fionn Carr, but Glasgow were able to deal with the danger.

Warriors’ Argentinian star Bernardo Stortoni threatened in broken play, and the visitors built forward pressure before Jackson sent a tame drop goal effort wide of the posts.

But Glasgow were first off the mark on 12 minutes when Connacht prop Brett Wilkinson was pinged for a ruck offence and Jackson nailed a kick from a central position.

Jon Welsh and Richie Vernon carried well for Glasgow as they tried to tie the Connacht defence in, but a block down by hooker Sean Cronin got the Irish province on the march and their first bit of decent territory yielded a successful penalty for Keatley, 24 minutes in.

That good work was undone, three minutes later, when Johnny O’Connor was singled out for going off his feet at a ruck and Jackson quickly made it 6-3.

Glasgow continued to have the better of possession, coming up to half-time, yet Connacht’s dogged defence kept them at bay and Carr did well to cover as Glasgow wingers Colin Shaw and van der Merwe chased kicks out wide.

The first forty minutes had been pockmarked with mistakes and a Connacht knock-on and offside, as the second half began, allowed Jackson kick Glasgow 9-3 clear.

Jackson then missed his first place-kick, after Connacht lock Mike McCarthy saw yellow for infringing at a ruck, and Carr showed his attacking skills, hacking on twice before van der Merwe rescued the situation for the Scots.

Glasgow put eleven points between the sides in ther 48th minute when Jackson initiated a purposeful counter attack and big Canadian winger van der Merwe finished off a slick move down the left involving four players.

The try went unconverted and although Glasgow’s stand-in captain Mark McMillan almost created a try off an overthrown Connacht lineout, Michael Bradley’s men managed to play their way back into contention.

Carr, Aidan Wynne and the hard-working Naoupu took the ball up and Glasgow were marched back into their 22 before full-back Duffy ran against the grain and caught Glasgow on the drift as he eased past tackles from McMillan and Ed Kalman to touch down behind the posts.

Keatley tapped over the conversion and maintained his 100% record with a fourth penalty.

Straight off the restart, 14-man Glasgow increased the tempo though with a series of late pick and drives, sucking a tiring Connacht defence in before Eddie found space to squeeze over in the final attack.