Glasgow Warriors take down URC's form team and land huge incentive for final

Franco Smith was as good as his word and stuck to his attacking principles as his Glasgow Warriors side booked their place in the United Rugby Championship semi-finals with a 33-21 win over Connacht at Scotstoun.

The coach had rejected suggestions he would take a more pragmatic approach in the play-offs and so it proved. The home team played with verve and bravery to see off Irish opponents who stayed in the game right until the end.

Glasgow's reward for winning this quarter-final is a last-four tie against either the Bulls or Munster at Murrayfield next Saturday. If they can win that, they will stay at the national stadium for the final - a huge incentive for the men in black.

Kyle Steyn scores for Glasgow Warriors in their win over Connacht. | SNS Group

The Warriors outscored the visitors by five tries to three but it was never comfortable for the hosts. They produced some special moments, including two great scores from Kyle Steyn and Josh McKay off strike plays. Steyn played a captain’s innings, bagging two tries and stopping one at the other end with a stunning last-ditch tackle. He was a deserved recipient of the man-of-the-match award.

There was also a memorable try from super-sub Jare Oguntibeju and one for Patrick Schickerling as well as four conversions for George Horne.

The subplot to all this was the battle of the house of Lancaster, and it was Glasgow stand-off Dan who came out on top, enjoying a notable victory over dad Stuart, the Connacht head coach. The Warriors No 10 stepped up on the night, producing a controlled performance laced with bits of vision and inspiration, most notably when he set up Steyn for the final try of the night.

There was plenty of emotion, too. Johnny Matthews, Jack Dempsey and Sione Vailanu were all playing their final game at Scotstoun and signed off in style. Matthews was denied a farewell try but he had a hand in one and left the pitch to a standing ovation.

Connacht were the form horses in the URC coming into this match and they made a confident start. They were camped on the Glasgow line in the first couple of minutes after kicking an early penalty to the corner but the home side held firm.

But Connacht came again and they weren’t to be denied. From Lancaster’s drop-out they swarmed forward and Cian Prendergast was able to force his way over from the game’s opening try, converted by Sam Gilbert.

It wasn’t exactly a wake-up call for the Warriors - they knew this was coming - and they responded in the right manner, taking the game to their opponents. A period of pressure led to successive penalties and they went down the short side to take their reward, Schickerling diving over to score. Horne’s finely judged conversion made it 7-7 as the clock ticked past the 10th minute.

A breathless match at Scotstoun

Connacht were reduced to 14 men when prop Sam Illo was yellow-carded for being offside and the Warriors thought they had scored a second try when Matthews was on the end of a lineout drive but it was chalked off after a TMO intervention.

It was a breathless stuff. Glasgow produced a great move from a scrum, with Steyn rampaging through, and then the captain showed the other side of his game with a brilliant try-saving tackle on Ioane.

The teams went in at at the break tied at 7-7 but Glasgow began the second half in devastating form. A perfectly judged 50:22 from Steyn put the Warriors in the corner and although the lineout drive was held up, Glasgow were able to work it out through Horne and Tuipulotu, with the centre finding Steyn in space to score. Horne added the extras to make it 14-7 and the home side had their tails up.

Matt Fagerson thought he'd scored only for it to be chalked off for a forward pass but Glasgow kept their foot on the throats of their opponents and McKay scored their third try, from a lovely backs move. The home side had penalty advantage as they worked the ball wide from a scrum and Tuipulotu and Lancaster played their parts to perfection to put McKay into space to score. Horne’s conversion stretched Glasgow’s lead to 21-7.

But Connacht kept coming and forced the Warriors into some desperate defending. Too desperate, in fact, and Alex Samuel was sent to the sin-bin for repeated team infringements. It was a double whammy for the home side because they also lost a try, sub hooker Dave Heffernan just managing to ground the ball.

Gilbert’s conversion brought Connacht back to within a score as the game continued to swing one way and then the other.

The pendulum was soon back in Glasgow’s favour as Oguntibeju scored their fourth try after patient work by the home forwards. The 6ft 8in lock still had plenty to do but found a gap and ambled over, almost in slow motion. Horne’s fourth conversion made it 28-14 but Connacht still weren’t done and Finlay Bealham’s try, converted by Gilbert, again cut the lead to seven points.

Glasgow responded in the only way they know how: with another devastating attack. The credit this time went to Lancaster who found Steyn in space on the right wing and there was no-one stopping the captain.

Lancaster couldn’t land the conversion but it didn’t matter. Connacht had run out of time and inspiration and the night belonged to Glasgow.