1
Best's last club match ends in disaster as Glasgow embarrass Ulster in PRO14 semi-final
Glasgow will have the benefit of home advantage at Celtic Park after romping past Ulster 50-20 to claim a place in the Guinness PRO14 final. Tommy Seymour’s double plus tries from Ali Price, Rob Harley, Kyle Steyn and both Horne brothers mean Warriors will have the chance to back up their 2015 title within their own city limits.
ADVERTISEMENT
Either Leinster or Munster await Dave Rennie’s men at Parkhead on May 25 but there will be no fairytale farewell for Ulster and Ireland skipper Rory Best, who now only has this year’s World Cup to look forward to before hanging up his boots. The visitors did manage three scores through Marcell Coetzee, Rob Herring and Mike Lowry but it was a painful return for former Warriors coach Dan McFarland.
The game also marked Scotland star Stuart Hogg’s final run-out at Scotstoun before he moves to Exeter this summer but he is now eyeing up the perfect farewell gift in a week’s time. Twelve months on from losing at home to Scarlets at the same stage of the competition, Glasgow knew the advantage of staging the semi-final was not a guarantee for success. But they made the most of the frenzied atmosphere generated by the sell-out 10,000 crowd as they set about Ulster with a frightening intensity.
Steyn set the tone for Warriors as he spiked Ulster’s lines with a 40-yard charge within seconds of kick-off. Warriors kept their foot on the gas and grabbed a third-minute opener when Adam Hastings floated a perfect pass out for Seymour, who finished with style.
Glasgow chose to test the visitors’ lineout defence in the 18th minute and were delighted to find they were not watertight. Price collected off the base and, spotting only heavy-footed lock Iain Henderson in his way, scampered in down the short side for the score.
WE’RE IN THE FINAL!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/PkVnPAorOd
— Glasgow Warriors (@GlasgowWarriors) May 17, 2019
The Irishmen upped the ante in response but were rebuffed by some unshakeable defending from Rennie’s side, who nudged further ahead with a Hastings penalty on 29 minutes.
ADVERTISEMENT
John Cooney got Ulster off the mark with a kick of his own a moment later but Glasgow were celebrating again just before the break as they applied forward pressure from a scrum, with Harley barging past Cooney from a yard out. Hastings’ third conversion put them the home side 21 ahead at the break and the gap became insurmountable 15 minutes into the second period.
"We were second best in everything.
"But the way they played, I am not sure our best game would have been good enough anyway."
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland admits his side were outplayed by Glasgow in tonight's 50-20 #GuinnessPRO14i defeat at Scotstoun.#GLAvULS pic.twitter.com/837eZvT0bC
— eir Sport (@eirSport) May 17, 2019
Seymour’s charge down on Jacob Stockdale’s kick pinned Ulster down inside their own 22 as Glasgow again moved up the gears. Sam Johnson drove on before popping off to Hogg who slotted in Seymour for his second. The party was truly under way now and Warriors were in exhibition mode as they ran in number five two minutes later.
Hastings lobbed the ball forward as Hogg broke the line. He fed to Ryan Wilson who exchanged passes back and fourth with Steyn before the South African centre decided enough was enough and dotted down. Coetzee grabbed a consolation try on the hour mark after nice play by Dave Shanahan just before the retiring Best brought the curtain down on his Ulster career as he made way for Rob Herring.
63' | Rory Best leaves the field to a standing ovation from both sets of fans ?
— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) May 17, 2019
There may not have been a club trophy to go with his 2006 Celtic League success, but the British and Irish Lion’s contribution to the game was marked by the appreciative Scotstoun faithful rising to afford him a standing ovation.
ADVERTISEMENT
Their team, however, refused to show the same mercy and got in again on 68 minutes as George Horne kicked through for brother Pete to score. Ulster’s Herring and Lowry crossed for two more late scores either side of George Horne’s touchdown as Glasgow cruised through.
– Press Association
WATCH: Part five of The Academy, the RugbyPass documentary on Leicester Tigers
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill 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..
6 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.
6 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.)
3 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.
29 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?
3 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.
3 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 comments