Glasgow kick off with bonus-point victory at Sale

MATCH REPORT: Glasgow Warriors made the perfect start to their Champions Cup campaign with a bonus-point 26-21 victory away to Sale Sharks.

Sale, with the wind behind them, dominated the early exchanges and surged into a 14-0 lead within 20 minutes thanks to Ernst van Rhyn and teenage debutant Ollie Davies.

But Glasgow found their rhythm before half-time, hitting back with tries from Gregor Hiddleston and Rory Darge.

Kyle Steyn and Stafford McDowall crossed after the break to put the visitors 26-14 up, and although Marius Louw responded as Sale mounted a late push, Glasgow held firm to secure a valuable away result.

The sides were grouped last season too, when Glasgow won 38-19 at Scotstoun, and this latest triumph deals another early blow to Sale’s qualification hopes.

Sale captain Ernst van Rhyn powered over from close range after just two minutes, giving the hosts a fast start before an early injury to Rekeiti Ma’asi-White forced Alex Sanderson into a reshuffle.

That opened the door for 19-year-old Ollie Davies to make his Champions Cup debut, and the youngster made an instant impression. Moving to fly-half with Rob du Preez shifting to centre, he ran a clever support line off Arron Reed and collected the offload to score and stretch the lead to 14-0.

With wind and rain swirling around the CorpAcq Stadium, Glasgow turned to their set-piece for a foothold. A well-executed line-out drive ended with hooker Gregor Hiddleston crashing over, before Rory Darge barged across just before half-time, Adam Hastings converting to close the gap to 14-12.

Glasgow hit the front two minutes after the restart when a poor box-kick from Raffi Quirke was allowed to bounce, and Jack Dempsey regathered, feeding Kyle Steyn to break a tackle and finish.

The visitors then secured the bonus point on 54 minutes as Stafford McDowall marked his 100th appearance by brushing past Du Preez to make it 26 unanswered points.

Sale, though, refused to fold. Tom O’Flaherty came close before the ball was recycled for Marius Louw to step over, Du Preez converting to make it 26-21 with 13 minutes left.

A late penalty gave Sale one last chance deep in Glasgow territory, but a lost line-out sealed the visitors’ well-earned victory.

Sale need to regroup ahead of a trip to Clermont next Saturday while Glasgow host six-time winners Toulouse.

Scorers:

For Sale:
Tries: Van Rhyn, Davies, Louw
Cons: Du Preez 3

For Glasgow:
Try: Hiddleston, Darge, Steyn, McDowall
Con: Hastings 3

Teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Arron Reed, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Alex Wills, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ben Bamber, 4 Tom Burrow, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Gurshwin Wehr

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Ollie Smith, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Ally Miller, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Dan Lancaster.

Referees: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque (France) & Julien Caulier (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)