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Glasgow beat Lions to end all SA involvement in Europe
Springbok Franco Smith snuffed out the last hope South Africa had of its continued participation in Europe.
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His Glasgow Warriors team beat the Lions 31-21 in their Challenge Cup quarterfinal at Scotstoun on Saturday.
Earlier in the day the Sharks and Stormers were also beaten in their European Cup quarterfinals.
Jack Dempsey, Jamie Dobie, Zander Fagerson and Tom Jordan went over for Glasgow, with George Horne contributing 11 points from the tee.
The Lions were on top for large spells, but struggled to make their pressure count.
Sanele Nohamba, Francke Horn and Morné Brandon crossed for the South African outfit, as their debut European campaign came to an end at the hands of the Springbok-coached Scottish franchise.
Glasgow will play Scarlets at the Parc y Scarlets in the semifinal on the weekend of April 28/29/30.
The Lions suffered an early setback when wing Sibahle Maxwane collided with Matt Fagerson and was knocked out collided – carted off on a mobile stretcher.
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Glasgow opened the scoring with a sublime line-out move – two fake mauls and quick hands that put Jack Dempsey over the whitewash. George Horner added the conversion – 7-0.
Towards the end of the first quarter, Glasgow scored their second try with another great move – Ollie Smith and Huw Jones producing some lighting hands to send Jamie Dobie in down the left. George Horne added the extras – 14-0.
For the next 20 minutes, the Lions constantly looked threatening and got into the Glasgow 22 several times, only to concede turnovers.
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The best example of the Lions’ inability to turn their opportunities into points came seven minutes into first-half additional time – Sanele Nohamba reaching out to plant down after an extended period of pressure, but the TMO deems that it was a double movement.
It left the hosts taking that 14-0 lead into the half-time break.
The Lions had all the momentum in the opening exchanges of the second half, with scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba taking a quick-tap penalty and reaching out to plant down – legally this time – before converting his own score.
However, Glasgow replied quickly and in brutal fashion – stealing a Lions line-out five metres out and Zander Fagerson eventually forces his way over from close range.
The Lions stayed in the fight and more phase play allowed Francke Horn to launch into a barnstorming carry and finish superbly under pressure. Gianni Lombard converted – 14-21 with 15 minutes remaining.
A Horne penalty took it beyond a seven-point game, before Huw Jones broke the Lions’ defensive line and offloaded to Ollie Smith, who sent Tom Jordan over the whitewash. Horne was again on target – 31-14.
The Lions kept their slim hopes alive with a third try, as Morné Brandon squeezed over from a metre out. Lombard converted – 21-31 with just under three minutes to play.
However, that was the full-time score, despite another late flurry by the Lions.
The scorers
For Glasgow Warriors
Tries: Dempsey, Dobie, Z Fagerson, Jordan
Cons: Horne 4
Pen: Horne
For the Lions
Tries: Nohamba, Horn, Brandon
Cons: Nohamba, Lombard 2
Teams
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Oliver Smith, 14 Kyle Steyn (captain), 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Jean-Pierre du Preez, 20 Lewis Bean, 21 Tom Gordon, 22 Ali Price, 23 Tom Jordan.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jacobus Kriel, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Morné Brandon, 17 Rhynardt Rijnsburger, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Travis Gordon, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales (England), Dan Jones (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
Comments on RugbyPass
Will rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to comments