Bulls get home Final after Glasgow's heroics in Limerick

MATCH REPORT: Glasgow Warriors will travel to Pretoria to face the Bulls in next weekend’s United Rugby Championship Final.

Franco Smith’s side produced a heroic performance to beat Munster 17-10 on Saturday after the Bulls beat Leinster 25-20 in Pretoria earlier in the day.

As the highest-ranked team to qualify for the Grand Final, the Bulls have won the right to host the match at Loftus Versfeld.

The Final will kick off at 18.00 South African time (16.00 GMT; 17.00 IRE & UK time) on Saturday, June 22.

Kyle Steyn and Sebastian Cancelliere scored Glasgow’s tries in a match where they tactically outplayed Graham Rowntree’s side.

Munster applied the early pressure with ball in hand and they had an opportunity to go in front in the fourth minute. However, Jack Crowley pushed his penalty kick wide.

Glasgow Warriors were reduced to 14 men in the 12th minute after Richie Gray saw yellow for his team’s repeated infringements.

Crowley was able to make it 3-0 with his second shot at goal.

After withstanding so much pressure, Glasgow scored the first try of the game in the 24th minute after captain Kyle Steyn snatched up a loose ball in the midfield before racing away to Munster’s tryline.

George Horne added the extra two points with the conversion.

Glasgow had a second player sent to the sinbin just before half-time. This time it was Matt Fagerson for a high tackle on Peter O’Mahony.

The visitors started the second half brightly and they could’ve extended their lead in the 50th minute if Horne found the direction with his penalty kick.

However, they got something even more valuable moments later when Huw Jones sprinted through Munster’s defence before feeding the ball to Sebastian Cancelliere who raced away for the try.

This time Horne was successful with the conversion and Glasgow had an 11-point lead.

Munster needed to be the next to score and they did when some great play from RG Snyman and Jeremy Loughman led to a try for Antoine Frisch in the corner.

Crowley made it a four-point game with his excellent conversion.

Glasgow had all the momentum in the closing stages and Munster were reduced to 14 men in the 74th minute after Alex Nankivell got a red card for a dangerous clear-out.

With that penalty, Horne increased his team’s lead to seven points.

Munster could not breach Glasgow’s defence in the closing minutes in what was a thrilling and intense semifinal.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Try: Frisch
Con: Crowley
Pen: Crowley

For Glasgow:
Tries: Steyn, Cancelliere
Cons: Horne 2
Pen: Horne

Red card: Alex Nankivell (Munster, 74′ – foul play, dangerous clear-out)

Yellow cards: Richie Gray (Glasgow, 12′ – offside, repeated infringements); Matt Fagerson (Glasgow, 40′ – foul play, high tackle)

Teams:

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 John Ryan, 18 Oli Jager, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 Alex Kendellen.

Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Steyn (captain), 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Ross Thompson.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) and Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Lipirini (Italy)