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December 09, 2006

Glasgow Warriors 51 - 7 Narbonne

European Challenge Cup match played at Hughenden on Friday December 8th 2006 | 9 comments

Dan Parks kicked eight from eight against Narbonne
Glasgow boosted their chance of reaching the knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup with a clear-cut and clinical triumph at Hughenden.

The Warriors had been redundant for three weeks but clicked into gear, cruising to the bonus point win that will give them a dose of self-belief for next weekend's return in France.

Boss Sean Lineen admitted he was delighted with the win but warned Narbonne will be itching for revenge.

The coach said: "They will be hurting like mad and we know from bitter experience teams from France have a different mindset at home.

"But Narbonne came here expecting a positive result, so this will have been a real shock to their system."

It was a jittery start by Glasgow who didn't break the deadlock until 25 minutes into the game.

Narbonne entered a ruck from side-on, leaving Dan Parks with a straightforward penalty from 30 metres.

Flanker Andy Wilson powered into the danger area to set up another touchdown chance but it went abegging when rookie prop Moray Low let the ball slip from his grasp.

Low set out on another rumble towards the line in the wake of a mazy dash by Rory Lamont.

Again the raid was repelled but Glasgow's reward was delayed by only a matter of seconds as centre Andy Henderson skipped in for a try after latching on to a clever parrying pass from Hefin O'Hare. Parks slotted the simple conversion.

Parks stretched the lead to 13 points with another excellent penalty from much longer range.

The Warriors continued to earn a steady supply of the ball in the build-up to the interval and carved out a superb second score in stoppage time.

Having already been awarded a penalty, they made the most of the advantage rule as Lamont cruised behind the uprights following a perfectly-weighted long pass from Scott Barrow.

Parks' kick was on target to make it 20-0.

Glasgow soaked up a bout of pressure immediately after the restart and Parks clipped over his third penalty after patient phase play had taken the Warriors 60 metres upfield.

Narbonne suffered a further blow when skipper Jean-Marie Bisaro was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball at a ruck.

The home side made sure of victory five minutes later when sub prop Kevin Tkachuk plunged over the line after more penetrative running by Lamont.

Then came the biggest roar of the night when scrum-half Graeme Beveridge claimed the bonus-point touchdown, hooker Scott Lawson doing the initial damage with a piercing dash through the middle. Parks goaled both efforts. Dwayne Haare snapped up a consolation breakaway try for Narbonne, converted by Thomas Bouquie.

But Scott Barrow and Thom Evans rounded off the Warriors' rout, Parks and Colin Gregor adding the extras.

Report from The Daily Record

You can see some photos from the game here

Referee Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Attendance 1,431
Man of the Match Rory Lamont
Team
1
Justin Va'a
2
Scott Lawson
3
Moray Low
4
Andy Newman
5
Alastair Kellock
6
Andy Wilson
7
John Barclay
8
Jon Petrie
9
Graeme Beveridge
10
Dan Parks
11
Thom Evans
12
Scott Barrow
13
Andrew Henderson
14
Hefin O'Hare
15
Rory Lamont
Sub
Fergus Thomson
Sub
Kevin Tkachuk
Sub
Dan Turner
Sub
James Eddie
Sub
Steve Swindall
Sub
Colin Gregor
Sub
Sean Marsden
Match Substitutions
Off On
Justin Va'a Kevin Tkachuk
Off On
Andy Newman Dan Turner
Off On
Scott Lawson Fergus Thomson
Off On
Andy Wilson Steve Swindall
Off On
Hefin O'Hare Sean Marsden
Off On
Dan Parks Colin Gregor
Off On
John Barclay James Eddie
Scorers
Dan Parks Penalty
Andrew Henderson Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Dan Parks Penalty
Rory Lamont Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Dan Parks Penalty
Kevin Tkachuk Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Graeme Beveridge Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Scott Barrow Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Thom Evans Try 
Colin Gregor Conversion
Comments
Posted by vicki on December 9, 2006 10:01 AM | Reply to this comment

An excellent result to set up for our away trip to Narbonne, although I have no doubt that at home, the team will be an entirely different proposition.

Glasgow will have to forget this result, and in particular the score, because I don't believe it is a true reflection of Narbonne's ability.

I thought Rory deserved his MOTM award - he looked like the Rory of old. Other players who stood out were Scott Lawson (another player returning from injury and finding his previous form), Andy Wilson who was just all over the Narbonne forwards, Dan Parks and Moray Low.

Again, the crowd as disappointing - the fans that turned up to see a great Glasgow performance were noisy and enjoyed the game, but with a run of home victories, the team are doing their bit to attract larger crowds, so where is everyone??

Posted by Alistair on December 9, 2006 12:04 PM | Reply to this comment

To be honest I thought Scott looked a bit nervous going into contact and Fergus brought a lot more directness when he came on. Rory and Thom seemed to be having a competition to see who could beat the most men on a single break, which while exciting to watch did make me and the crowd around me scream "Pass the bloody ball" on a number of occasions.

I thougt we were quite poor in the first half (yet were still leading 20-0) but we put together and really excellent second half performance.

Posted by Gordon on December 9, 2006 05:52 PM | Reply to this comment

The players are working hard and playing good rugby. They've scored over 150 points in their last three games - they deserve more support from bigger crowds coming through the gates.

Posted by FJ! on December 9, 2006 09:23 PM | Reply to this comment

We are going to struggle to get decent crowds until there is some advertising of the game. You would have had to have a crystal ball to know there was a game on last night.

Posted by ballinj on December 10, 2006 01:27 PM | Reply to this comment

Yeah well not only Glasgow Rugby's fault. The press coverage was a joke, a tiny paragraph in the herald, 5 pages in. Can put up all the posters that you want but until the game is taken serious by the glasgow based press then no one will know about it.

Posted by gnasher on December 10, 2006 01:10 PM | Reply to this comment

I do wonder about these attendance figures. Whilst not a huge crowd - I thought it was more like a 2,000 mark judging from previous matches. Regarding publicity it is very noticeable that BBC Scotland and STV don't seem to bother reporting the Magners league or do I always miss it. I know Wales is different but if you look at the coverage that is given by terrestrial television there and look at the crowds their teams get. Doing a deal with BBC rather than Setanta might be the way ahead for promoting our professional teams.

But well played guys - I'm really looking forward to the trip to Narbonne.

Posted by ailie on December 11, 2006 06:46 PM | Reply to this comment

Scotland Today's evening bulletin did mention the weekends rugby matches for once on Friday night. But reported that 3 Scottish teams were competing in the Henieken Cup, these being Edinburgh, Borders and Ospreys, interesting one this?? And of course no mention that Glasgow were playing at all that night.

If one of our national news programmes, which is braodcast from Glasgow can't even get these small details correct, what chance do the Warriors have of attracting people to the game.

Posted by ballinj on December 10, 2006 01:33 PM | Reply to this comment

The most pleasing thing about the performance for me was that they did the basics right, didn't try the Hadden patented headless chicken lets through the ball around and hope the opposition gift us a gap. But stuck to having sure the ball was in their half and the ball was secure and quick.

Thought the midfield was fantastic, Andy also makes yards, while Scott added a bit of creativity (especially for the 2nd try) while Dan kept us going forward and also added some wonderful long fast flat passes.

Feel more positive about Glasgow after that performance than have for a long time (scoreline was a bonus).

Well done lads

Posted by Michael Dudikoff on December 11, 2006 12:28 PM | Reply to this comment

Nice work with the boot Dan, good to see a big win for the lads. Keep it going!

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