Rowe treble helps Glasgow Warriors thump Scarlets

MATCH REPORT: Scotland wing Kyle Rowe scored a hat-trick of tries as Glasgow Warriors climbed into second place in the United Rugby Championship by blowing away the ill-disciplined Scarlets 45-3 in Llanelli.

The win moved the Warriors above the Bulls and to within five points of leaders Leinster, with five rounds of the regular season to go.

George Hiddleston, Scott Cummings and Johnny Matthews also crossed, with Duncan Weir converting four of them, and there was also a penalty try.

Ioan Lloyd kicked a penalty for Scarlets, who lost three players to the sin-bin.

Kieran Hardy led out Scarlets on his 100th appearance for the region but his side quickly suffered a blow when Tom Rogers was yellow-carded for taking out Rowe in the air.

Glasgow immediately capitalised with Rowe collecting a long pass from Weir to out-flank the cover defence and score.

Rogers returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Tomi Lewis’ electric run take Scarlets into the opposition 22 from where Lloyd put them on the scoreboard with a straightforward penalty.

That score was against the run of play as the Scots looked the sharper and it came as no surprise when they secured a second try, with Hiddleston finishing off an unstoppable driving line-out.

An error from Lloyd nearly gifted Glasgow their third try. He took too long to clear his lines and his side were forced to concede a five-metre scrum but resolute defence from the hosts kept their line intact to trail 14-3 at the interval.

At half-time an injured Lloyd was replaced by Dan Jones and his first touch saw his clearance charged down leaving Cummings to collect and score.

There was no way back for Scarlets as Rory Darge and Tom Jordan made clean breaks to split the defence before Glasgow was awarded a penalty try after the home side collapsed a maul with Dan Jones yellow-carded.

Scarlets’ woes continued when Sam Lousi became the third player to be sin-binned for a dangerous tackle, with the visitors taking immediate advantage with a try from Matthews.

Rowe strolled over for a sixth and a seventh to leave Scarlets to reflect on a sobering experience.

Man of the Match: Rowe threatened throughout with his lively running. He set the ball rolling with his side’s first try before making it a miserable night for Scarlets with the last two to complete a deserved hat-trick.

Scorers:

For Scarlets:
Pens: I Lloyd

For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Rowe 3, Hiddleston, Cummings, Matthews, Penalty try
Cons: Weir 4

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Eddie James, 11 Tomi Lewis, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Vaea Fifita, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Ryan Elias (captain), 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Ryan Conbeer.

Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Stafford McDowall (captain), 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Sebastian Cancelliere, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 George Horne, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Ally Miller, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Thomas Gordon, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Duncan Munn.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) and John Darcy (Wales )
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)