Got an opinion?
Discuss this article in the comments section or register with the glasgowwarriors.com forum.

Search this site

October 24, 2008

Glasgow Warriors 15 - 12 Leinster

Celtic League match played at Firhill on Friday October 24th 2008 | 12 comments

Dan Parks kicked Glasgow to a hard-earned win
Glasgow survived a second-half comeback by Leinster to record a Magners League win at Firhill Arena.

Scotland fly-half Dan Parks produced a near-flawless kicking display in difficult conditions, converting five of his six penalty attempts.

Felipe Contepomi was successful with four of his five but it was not enough to halt Leinster's travel sickness in the defence of their title.

The Irish side have looked imperious in the Heineken Cup but found themselves leapfrogged by their opponents in the Magners League table after this game.

It could have been worse than a bonus-point defeat for the visitors, with the Warriors seeing a first-half try from Max Evans controversially disallowed.

Glasgow were forced into one change from the starting XV named in midweek, Eric Milligan replacing Dougie Hall at hooker.

Hall's shoulder injury was not expected to prevent him linking up with the Scotland camp next week.

Ireland full-back Girvan Dempsey recovered from illness to start for Leinster, who were already missing talismanic centre Brian O'Driscoll.

It took less than a minute for the visitors to infringe at the breakdown, Parks converting the penalty from in front of the posts.

But Glasgow soon reciprocated, allowing Contepomi to level.

The Warriors thought they had scored the opening try when Evans combined with Lome Fa'atau down the right before crossing, but the officials had spotted a forward pass.

Glasgow soon had the consolation of another successful Parks penalty after foul play at a lineout.

Neither kicker was taking any chances in the wind, with both opting to blast their penalty efforts.

Glasgow were on top but had a scare when Contepomi broke through down the right and was scuppered only by a lack of support.

A superb 40-metre penalty gave the home side a deserved six-point cushion.

That became nine minutes later from in front of the posts, the referee sin-binning Jamie Heaslip in the process.

The 14 men wasted a chance to cut the deficit immediately when Contepomi missed a penalty and Glasgow went into the break 12-3 up.

Glasgow withdrew captain Alastair Kellock and prop Ed Kalman at the interval for Tim Barker and Moray Low.

Contepomi atoned for his earlier penalty miss shortly after the restart as Leinster closed to within a converted try of their opponents.

With the wind now on his back, the Argentinian booted another from near halfway to make it 12-9 with more than a quarter of the match remaining.

In the meantime, Glasgow lost Scotland centre Graeme Morrison to injury.

Leinster continued to be dogged by ill discipline and Parks made them pay with another penalty, but Glasgow opened the door again and Contepomi made no mistake with his own kick.

With time running out, Parks missed a tough touchline penalty to calm the nerves of the Firhill faithful.

But it did not matter as Glasgow held on.

Glasgow's third league win of the season lifts them above Leinster in the table after six games.

“It was a horrible night to play rugby, but our defence was outstanding,” said Glasgow coach Sean Lineen.

“The team spirit, the determination and the crowd were great, and that’s what we want from home games from now on.”

Skipper Ally Kellock said: "We got our approach just right and Dan took his chances."

Dan told The Glaswegian: "Yeah it was a great win given that it really was foul out there and Leinster are a very good side.

"I landed all but one of my kicks and I'm delighted with that because that wind really was swirling around and I had to get my judgement just right.

"People will comment on my performance but our forwards did an outstanding job out there. They fronted up really well against their pack and we also had to cope with Al Kellock having to go off injured at half-time.

"If the pack don't win the ball then there's not a lot us backs can do so they brought us our win as much as anyone."

You can see highlights from the game here

Referee Gwyn Morris (WRU)
Attendance 2523
Team
1
Kevin Tkachuk
2
Eric Milligan
3
Ed Kalman
4
Dan Turner
5
Alastair Kellock
6
Kelly Brown
7
John Barclay
8
John Beattie
9
Mark McMillan
10
Dan Parks
11
Thom Evans
12
Graeme Morrison
13
Max Evans
14
Lome Fa'atau
15
Bernardo Stortoni
Sub
Pat MacArthur
Sub
Moray Low
Sub
Tim Barker
Sub
Richie Vernon
Sub
Andrew Henderson
Sub
Colin Gregor
Sub
Hefin O'Hare
Match Substitutions
Off On
Ed Kalman Moray Low
Off On
Alastair Kellock Tim Barker
Off On
Graeme Morrison Andrew Henderson
Off On
Eric Milligan Pat MacArthur
Off On
Lome Fa'atau Hefin O'Hare
Scorers
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Comments
Posted by way_ahead on October 24, 2008 09:38 PM | Reply to this comment

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really pleased - lets kick on now and do some more damage

Posted by Tricky on October 24, 2008 10:00 PM | Reply to this comment

You beauty! Third in the league...and aiming higher!

C;mon u Warriors!

Posted by Ghillie on October 25, 2008 08:51 AM | Reply to this comment

Great result. Eric Milligan looked good on his return and the defence was up for it.

Posted by sunday5 on October 25, 2008 11:49 AM | Reply to this comment

Superb result for us and there is no doubt we have TWO Evans' brothers in our ranks! Max has been going from strength to strength. Fa'atau put in a solid performance too.

Well done lads!!!

Posted by Phall on October 25, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply to this comment

2,500? It seemed more in the stand. Still on a night like last night, 2,500 brave people.

Posted by AJPatterson on October 25, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply to this comment

2500 is 500 more than we'd have got last year. It doesn't sound much but it's 25% up.

Posted by Neil Malcolm on October 26, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply to this comment

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!! get in!!!

Posted by weebaw on October 26, 2008 01:22 AM | Reply to this comment

Let's mention this when we've won. The ref was an absolute joke, even worse than mr j jones of Wales.

Because of him, neither side had any chance of scoring a try. Either that or both teams need to read the rule book. That game must have set the world record for penalties. After the disallowed try Glasgow seemed to lose the will to pass.

Not a great advert for those who chose not to attend although defence and commitment cant be faulted. The 2500 diehards appreciate this but is it too much to ask for the ball to be delivered to our star threequarters occasionally? With the conditions I appreciate it was going to be an attritional game which we won brilliantly with our loose play(back row and Milligan)The ball was dry most of the time though and there were several occasions when it could have been shifted in that 2nd half.

Posted by Alistair Hutton on October 26, 2008 09:26 AM | Reply to this comment

The ref was good. He consistentlu required players to stay on their feet at the breakdown. This played into Glasgow's hands and allowed our back-row to dominate the game. Players kept going off his feet so he kept penalising them. It's not the refs fault if the players break the law continually.

I would like to see this ref at Firhill again. Comparing him to James "Making it up as I go along" Jones is an insult.

Posted by Phall on October 26, 2008 01:26 PM | Reply to this comment

I'd doubt the ball was dry even when not raining the ground was wet. Also the wind chill must have affected players hands making taking a pass difficult.

Posted by big john on October 26, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply to this comment

Have to agree, thought the ref had a great game too. Got the vast majority of the decisions right, and was continually talking to both teams throughout the game, which is all you can ask.
I would be delighted to welcome him back to Firhill.

Posted by on | Reply to this comment

Add a comment to this article

If you're replying to an existing comment, please use the 'Reply to this comment' link above the entry. This will display the comments in a way which is far easier for other readers to follow.