Warriors march on relentlessly

Glasgow Warriors maintained their 100 percent record in the Pro12 with a convincing 39-21 bonus point win against Connacht.

Their five-try haul saw Stuart Hogg cross the whitewash twice, and Henry Pyrgos, DTH van der Merwe, and Mark Bennett crossed over to bring Connacht's unbeaten run to an end.

Both sides lined up having had three wins out of three in the Pro12 with Connacht beating last season's champions Leinster 10-9 the week before.

With history against the Irish outfit – Connacht have only won once in Glasgow since 2003 – head coach Pat Lam opted for five changes to his starting squad.

Glasgow, who welcomed back captain Al Kellock for the first time this season looked determined to break Connacht's recent run of form.

After 18 minutes of stalemate Hogg opened the scoring. The wing outpaced the Connacht defence after the home side shipped the ball wide from the scrum.

And despite the blustery conditions Duncan Weir made no mistake with the conversion to put Glasgow 7-0 ahead.

But the Irishmen came back when Dave McSharry dotted down in the left corner and Ian Porter's conversion made it all square at the Scotstoun.

Glasgow pulled ahead on the half-hour mark when Weir slotted home a penalty to make it 10-7.

Seven minutes later Glasgow banked their second try of the match when Pyrgos charged down a Darragh Leader kick inside the 22, collecting and crossing over, before Weir added the conversion to make it 17-7 at the break.

Connacht's fortune worsened seven minutes into the restart when Hogg collected out wide and ran under the posts for his second. Weir narrowly missed the conversion.

Kellock, in his first Pro12 outing this season since undergoing shoulder surgery was substituted for Tom Ryder, and Connacht removed try-scorer McSharry for Craig Robinson.

Connacht upped the pressure and were rewarded when Jack Carty swung the ball out wide to Leader who dived across for the try in the corner. Porter sailed the conversion through the uprights to make it two from two and 22-14 to the hosts.

After the restart Glasgow sealed their fourth try bonus point. Glasgow took a quick tap and go penalty on the Connacht 22 and Pyrgos' inside pass set van der Merwe under the posts. Weir's conversion bumped the scoreline to 29-14.

But Connacht remained within touching distance going into the final quarter after referee Claudio Blessano awarded a penalty try and Porter slotted home the conversion.

However a Weir penalty on 71 minutes inched Glasgow ahead, and shortly afterwards outside centre Bennett finished off the game with the home side's fifth try of the day after intercepting the ball on his own 22 and dashed 80 metres home. Weir's conversion made it 39-21 where the scoreline remained unchanged.

* In other action on Friday Leinster fought off a late rally from Cardiff Blues at the RDS Arena as a late try from Luke McGrath ultimately sealed a 37-23 bonus-point victory.

* And Scarlets recorded their second draw of the Pro12 season after letting slip a seven point advantage to end the game 20-20 against Edinburgh.

All Friday's scores and scorers!

Edinburgh 20-20 Scarlets

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:

Tries: Visser, Burleigh

Cons: Heathcote 2

Pens: Heathcote 2

For Scarlets:

Tries: Robinson, L Williams

Cons: Priestland 2

Pens: Priestland 2

Yellow cards: Cornell Du Preez (Edinburgh, 14), John Andress (Edinburgh, 43), John Barclay (Scarlets, 71)

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Jack Cuthbert, 13 Sam Beard, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Sean Kennedy, 8 Cornell Du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Tomas Leonardi, 5 Ollie Atkins, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 John Andress, 2 Ross Ford (captain), 1 Alasdair Dickinson

Replacements: 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Allan Dell, 18 WP Nel, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Roddy Grant, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Phil Burleigh, 23 Nick McLennan

Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Scott Williams (captain), 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 John Barclay, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Rhodri Jones, 2 Emyr Phillips, 1 Rob Evans

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Phil John, 18 Samson Lee, 19 James Davies, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Adam Warren

Referee: John Lacey

Assistant referees: Neil Paterson, Stephen Hart

TMO: David Changleng

Glasgow Warriors 39-21 Connacht

The scorers:

For Glasgow:

Tries: Hogg 2, Pyrgos, Van der Merwe, Bennett

Cons: Weir 4

Pens: Weir 2

For Connacht:

Tries: McSharry, Leader, Penalty

Cons: Porter 3

The teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Downey, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Al Kellock (captain), 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Gordon Reid.

Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 James Eddie, 21 Murray McConnell, 22 Finn Russell, 23 Tommy Seymour.

Connacht: 15 Darragh Leader, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Ian Porter, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Eoin McKeon, 6 John Muldoon (captain), 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Nathan White, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Mick Kearney, 21 John Cooney, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Fionn Carr.

Referee: Claudio Blessano (Italy)

Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Stephen Ward (Scotland)

Leinster 37-23 Cardiff Blues

The scorers:

For Leinster:

Tries: Ruddock, M McGrath, D'Arcy, L McGrath

Cons: Madigan 4

Pens: Madigan 3

For Cardiff Blues:

Tries: Allen, Warburton

Cons: Patchell 2

Pens: Patchell 3

The teams:

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Gordon D'Arcy, 12 Ian Madigan, 11 Darragh Fanning, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Dominic Ryan, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Michael Bent.

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Steve Crosbie, 23 Mick McGrath.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 George Watkins, 10 Gareth Davies, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Josh Navidi (captain), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Chris Dicomidis, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Gethin Jenkins.

Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Taufa'ao Filise, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Adam Thomas, 23 Dan Fish.

Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)

Assistant referees: Mark Patton (Ireland), Will O'Connor (Ireland)

TMO: John Carvill (Ireland)