Warriors smash Connacht
PRO14 REPORT: George Horne took less than a minute to score Glasgow Warriors’ first try as they ran out 43-17 winners over Connacht in the Pro14 on Friday.
Dave Rennie’s side went on to score six tries in total as they moved back to within a point of Conference A leaders Munster.
Robbie Nairn and Grant Stewart also both bagged doubles in the win while the visitors did manage three scores of their own through Stephen Fitzgerald, Paul Boyle and Tom Daly.
Horne opened the scoring with 45 seconds on the clock after some great work by Kyle Steyn to dance through the onrushing defenders and find Horne on his inside who finished the job. Brandon Thomson added the extra two from a tight angle.
And with 15 minutes on the clock Thomson extended the Glasgow lead to 10 points with another accurate kick at goal.
Connacht got themselves into the game and on the scoresheet via a Stephen Fitzgerald try after he benefitted from a bouncing ball. His brother Conor pulled the resultung conversion attempt wide.
On the half-hour mark Tim Swinson restored Glasgow’s double figure advantage when he wriggled over the whitewash from two metres out.
And Glasgow made it three first-half tries through Stewart after a catch and drive came down over the Connacht tryline.
To make matters worse for the Irishmen, James Cannon received ten minutes in the sin bin for bringing the maul down and Thomson nailed the conversion to make it four from four from the tee.
Connacht had the chance to pull three points back just before the half time whistle but Conor Fitzgerald, on his first ever start for the club, pushed it wide to make it three misses on the trot.
After the break it didn’t take long for Glasgow to secure the bonus point after Stewart pulled off the back of a maul and charged over the line from ten metres out for his second try of the match.
With just over an hour played Connacht dug deep and secured their second try of the night when Boyle buried his way over. The missed conversion from Kyle Godwin meant that Connacht still trailed by more than 20 points however.
With the final ten minutes approaching the two sides exchanged further tries with Glasgow dotting down first through Robbie Nairn and Connacht responded almost instantly as Daly got another one back.
Connacht supporters will have been pleased to see Godwin land their first points from the tee but their joy was cut short when Nairn went down the other end to grab his second of the night leaving Connacht with two much to do with too little time remaining.
The scorers:
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Horne, Swinson, Stewart 2, Nairn 2
Cons: Thomson 5
Pen: Thomson
For Connacht:
Tries: Fitzgerald, Boyle, Daly
Con: Godwin
Yellow card: James Cannon (Connacht, 38)
Teams:
Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Paddy Kelly, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Niko Matawalu, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 George Horne, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro (captain), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 Grant Stewart, 1 Oli Kebble.
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Matt Fagerson, 20 Thomas Gordon, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Rory Hughes, 23 Robbie Nairn.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Stephen Fitzgerald, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jarrad Butler (captain), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Eoin McKeon, 5 James Cannon, 4 Cillian Gallagher, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Joe Maksymiw, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Peter Robb, 23 Cian Kelleher.
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Lloyd Linton (Scotland), Elgan Williams (Wales)
TMO: Charles Samson (Scotland)
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