Warriors must front up against familiar foes Leinster
After winning all of their first six league matches in the Guinness Pro14, Glasgow Warriors were dealt a huge dollop of perspective by Exeter Chiefs, whose forwards produced a display of pure ferocity to bring the Scots down from their autumn high in the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The Warriors had seen off opponents from four top rugby nations in the lead-up to the showdown at Sandy Park and most would not have expected to see them at the bottom of Pool 3 as the only team who walked away with nothing.
And this weekend the Conference A leaders return to Scotstoun to host three-time European Cup winners Leinster who came away with everything, securing a 24-17 bonus-point victory over ex-Scotland coach Vern Cotter’s Montpellier to top the group.
Leinster managed the win even without star fly-half Johnny Sexton and, for the final six minutes of the match, winger Adam Byrne, who was sin-binned in the crucial final moments with just seven points in it.
It will be a true test of Glasgow’s resilience to try and see off the Irishmen after having a losing bonus point snatched away from them in the dying moments at Sandy Park in contrast to Leinster who managed to hold it together despite having 14 men.
Scotstoun has become a bit of a fortress for Dave Rennie’s men this season and they will use their consistently noisy 16th man to spur them on but Warriors will have to rethink their goal line defence if they are to have any chance of victory on Saturday afternoon.
All three of the tries they conceded in Devon were scored by Exeter forwards who burrowed their way over from close range fairly easily in all three attacks. Glasgow are not short of speed and spark with players such as Finn Russell and Tommy Seymour but a lack of strength up front was what cost them against the English champions.
But while reflecting on their errors, they must not lose heart and continue to play the creative, loose brand of rugby they have been, especially as Leinster have been enjoying playing in a similar fashion this season. Three of their tries came from backs at the RDS Arena on Saturday, the second coming from a cross-field kick much like Russell’s trademark set-up for Seymour at Sandy Park.
Leo Cullen’s men have also only lost one of their first six Pro14 games losing only to the Toyota Cheetahs, who came close to defeating Glasgow in Bloemfontein, so the stats suggest the Scots should brace themselves for a tight encounter.
But Leinster are not the unfamiliar opponents Exeter were and Glasgow must use the knowledge they have of their style and tactics to frustrate them, for it could well be a moment of genius that could be the difference between glory and pain in what will inevitably be a tense battle.
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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