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April 14, 2007

Connacht 23 - 40 Glasgow Warriors

Celtic League match played at Galway Sportsground on Friday April 13th 2007 | 6 comments

John Barclay opened the scoring for Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow Warriors scored only their third victory on Irish soil in six seasons of Celtic League rugby in beating Connacht on this evening’s Magners League visit to Galway.

They made heavy weather of the middle phase of the contest after leading Connacht by 23-5 in 34 minutes. But they worked their way through a ragged second half to pick up a four-try bonus point.

Glasgow led as early as the second minute thanks to a brilliant try from flanker John Barclay after some poor tackling from Connacht and good play from hooker Fergus Thomson to make the initial break and number eight John Beattie who supported well. Dan Parks converted a try that illustrated Glasgow's versatility.

Connacht responded well to the early setback and Paul Warwick scored what could well be the try of the season from a Connacht viewpoint.

He marked in his own 22, took a quick tap and beat three tackles before kicking ahead and winning the race against three defenders to score.

Perhaps exhaustion was a factor in his missed touchline conversion but it was a forgivable miss.

Glasgow's response was calm and measured.

They moved the ball through the hands better throughout and their forwards made positive yards consistently, giving the outstanding Parksy the room to create and cause Connacht problems.

The number 10 added two penalties before kicking a superb drop-goal under pressure to stretch the lead to 16-5 at the half hour mark.

Things were going from bad to worse for Connacht at this stage and Rory Lamont glided through some non-existent tackles minutes later to stretch the lead to 18 after Dan added the extras.

A late Paul Warwick penalty narrowed the gap slightly at the break but the omens were not good.

Connacht had their best spell of the match just after half-time and wisely chose to kick at goal three minutes in from a penalty on the 22 which narrowed the gap further and built momentum.

Within a minute they had their second try after Rory fumbled on the 22 and from a Matt Lacey kick through Conor McPhillips scored to leave the score at 23-16.

Glasgow responded well with tries from substitute Hefin O'Hare who finished off a superb break and prop Kevin Tkachuk added another try, which secured the bonus as the Connacht defence continued to struggle.

Yellow cards to John Muldoon and Brett Sturgess of Connacht along with T-bone and Justin Va'a followed in the closing quarter.

Connacht were awarded a penalty try with 10 minutes remaining but Parks replied with a penalty to seal victory for the Warriors.

You can see some photos from the game here

Referee Neil Ballard(Wales)
Attendance 1331
Man of the Match Al Kellock, Andy Newman and Justin Va'a all showed the difference they have made to the agression and determination of the Glasgow pack
Team
1
Justin Va'a
2
Fergus Thomson
3
Moray Low
4
Andy Newman
5
Alastair Kellock
6
Steve Swindall
7
John Barclay
8
John Beattie
9
Graeme Beveridge
10
Dan Parks
11
Thom Evans
12
Scott Barrow
13
Graeme Morrison
14
Rory Lamont
15
Francisco Leonelli
Sub
Scott Lawson
Sub
Kevin Tkachuk
Sub
James Eddie
Sub
Andy Wilson
Sub
Donnie Macfadyen
Sub
Colin Gregor
Sub
Hefin O'Hare
Match Substitutions
Off On
Moray Low Kevin Tkachuk
Off On
Francisco Leonelli Hefin O'Hare
Off On
Fergus Thomson Scott Lawson
Off On
Steve Swindall Andy Wilson
Off On
John Beattie Donnie Macfadyen
Scorers
John Barclay Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Drop
Rory Lamont Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Hefin O'Hare Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Kevin Tkachuk Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Dan Parks Penalty
Comments
Posted by Envy on April 14, 2007 06:57 PM | Reply to this comment

Anytime you can be above Edinburgh then its good. Well done guys.

Posted by hammy on April 14, 2007 08:16 PM | Reply to this comment

great result. proud of the whole lot of them. need big result against ulster now but never before felt as confident in the teams ability to get results as i do now. sean lineens warrior army!

Posted by gnasher on April 16, 2007 10:51 AM | Reply to this comment

Quite agree. It has to be said that the coaches have done a great job across the season and the players have responded superbly. Nothing would be sweeter than to turn Ulster over on the own patch. Go for guys.

Posted by Hannah on April 16, 2007 01:31 PM | Reply to this comment

Well done boys! Lets go all the way and win the next 4 games. It has been a great season to be a warriors fan!

Posted by Les on April 16, 2007 05:35 PM | Reply to this comment

It was an honour and privilege to be a Warriors supporter at the ground and hope we were able to help with the noise we made. It scared off the Connacht mascot!

Posted by Les on April 16, 2007 05:35 PM | Reply to this comment

It was an honour and privilege to be a Warriors supporter at the ground and hope we were able to help with the noise we made. It scared off the Connacht mascot!

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