Glasgow Warriors outlasted Connacht in a gripping GUINNESS PRO14 opener at the Sportsground where Stuart Hogg’s 73rd-minute drop goal handed them a 27-26 bonus point win.
The hosts’ replacement out-half Craig Ronaldson had a last-gasp chance to pinch the result but his long-range penalty agonisingly bounced wide off the left hand post. He had previously missed a drop goal attempt from near halfway as Glasgow just about hung on.
A hectic attack-driven first half, which began with Tommy Seymour’s try after only 62 seconds, finished 23-17 in Connacht’s favour. Jack Carty kicked 13 points to add to tries from Cian Kelleher and Finlay Bealham, while George Turner and co-captain Ryan Wilson took Glasgow’s try tally to three.
Carty’s third successful penalty edged Connacht closer to a winning start under new head coach Andy Friend, but the visitors bounced back from recent Scotland debutant Adam Hastings’ sin-binning to bag their fourth try through replacement Adam Ashe, and man-of-the-match Hogg coolly supplied the match-winning kick.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Australian Friend said: “We had our chances to finish that off and we didn’t, that’s disappointing. Glasgow are a good side and that’s what good sides do. They manage to win the tight ones. There was a lot of good things from our team, but we need to be better.
“It is disappointing, we spoke about in the shed there. We’ll all be disappointed with that result. We don’t go out out to lose. What we have to look at are the areas we did well in and make sure we keep that, cement that in our game and then there are simple areas we can fix like out ability to get off the ground quicker in defence and get bodies in front of the opposition.
“We scored and we couldn’t get out of our 22. That’s certainly an area we need to look at, we can’t be leaking points after us scoring. We’ve got to make sure we get territorial advantage.
“Our attack shape gives us great opportunity and momentum going forward but what we’ve got to be better at is converting that into points. It was a quality game which was anybody’s until that last kick, but it didn’t go our way today.”
Seymour won the race onto Hogg’s chip kick to silence the home crowd almost immediately, with Tiernan O’Halloran and Matt Healy both outpaced by the Scotland winger. Peter Horne’ conversion of the first-minute try faded to the left and wide but Dave Rennie’s men had signalled their intent.
Connacht got no reward for a surging break by new captain Jarrad Butler, but Oli Kebble’s lineout infringement allowed Carty to split the posts in the 11th minute. DTH van der Merwe’s blunder in conceding a lineout saw the hosts press hard with Carty’s deft kick playing in winger Kelleher for a converted try.
Those seven points were swiftly handed back when Glasgow hooker Turner ghosted clean through from a close-in ruck, and Bealham joined his fellow front rower on the scoresheet with a memorable 21st-minute rumble to the line via Caolin Blade’s pinpoint pass.
Gaps continued to appear in both defences, Jonny Gray being held up short before Warriors co-captains Wilson and Callum Gibbins combined to drive over to the left of the posts. Centre Horne miscued his conversion effort and two closing penalties from Carty, either side of some improved defending from Connacht, gave his side a six-point half-time lead.
A nippy run from Matt Healy preceded Carty’s third successful penalty in the 42nd minute, as Glasgow’s indiscipline continued to let them down in the third quarter. The pace of the game slackened in the sunny conditions and Carty crucially suffered his only miss off the tee after his opposite number Hastings had seen yellow for a high tackle on Blade.
14-man Glasgow survived a searing Kelleher break through midfield, and on their first return to the Connacht 22, Ashe piled over for the bonus point score from a well-executed 64th-minute lineout maul. Hogg converted and despite Connacht standing firm through 28 defensive phases, Glasgow kept pressing and were rewarded with Hogg’s superbly-struck drop goal.
That proved to be the match-winning score for the Scots, whose bench certainly had the greater impact. With Kelleher and Ultan Dillane in talismanic form, Connacht had two late opportunities to respond, the best of them after Grigg had infringed at a ruck but Ronaldson’s radar was just off from 45 metres out.
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