Russell boots Glasgow past Scarlets
In appalling conditions at Parc y Scarlets, Gregor Townsend's team celebrated their century with four points and also made it back-to-back victories in the middle of the pool stages for the first time in 15 seasons.
But they were forced to dig deep in the second half when they were reduced to 13 men for seven minutes after former Scarlets player Sean Lamont and back row forward Chris Fusaro were both sent to the sin-bin by referee Pascal Gauzere in the space of three minutes.
Lamont got his marching orders for playing the ball on the floor after a tackle and then Fusaro followed him into the bin for a late charge on Aled Thomas, after he had kicked ahead.
The torrential rain meant there was never any likelihood of a repeat of the try-fest at Scotstoun the previous weekend and the first half turned into a battle of the kickers. Finn Russell hit the mark with two out of three of his penalty attempts, while Thomas was wide with his one shot.
The Scarlets lost Thomas to the sin-bin after 28 minutes for cynically knocking the ball out of the hands of his opposite number Russell in a tackle, but the home side only conceded three points while he was off the field.
The game was still finely balanced at the break with the visitors 6-0 to the good and Russell extended the lead to nine points with his third success, five minutes after the restart. Then came the yellow cards and Thomas got the Scarlets off the mark with a penalty shortly after Lamont went off and then added a second moments before Fusaro returned.
That left the home side with 13 minutes to try to find a way to win the game and add to their one point from three games. Thomas had a 45 metre kick at goal six minutes from the end, but pushed his kick wide.
Scorers:
For Scarlets:
Pens: Thomas 2
For Glasgow Warriors:
Pens: Russell 3
Yellow cards: Aled Thomas (Scarlets – 26), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors – 54), Simone Favaro (Glasgow Warriors – 56)
Teams:
Scarlets: 15 Michael Collins, 14 Steffan Evans, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Morgan Allen, 7 Jack Condy, 6 Lewis Rawlins, 5 Maselino Paulino, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Emyr Phillips (captain), 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 George Earle, 20 Tom Price, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Steve Shingler, 23 Harry Robinson.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Tommy Seymour, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray (captain), 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Alex Allan.
Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Lee Jones.
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
TMO: Bruno Bessot (France)
