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October 08, 2010

Glasgow Warriors 21 - 13 Newport Gwent Dragons

Heineken Cup match played at Firhill on Friday October 8th 2010 | 8 comments

Federico Aramburu had a fine game for Glasgow
Glasgow claimed revenge for last month's Magners League defeat at Rodney Parade as they opened their Heineken Cup campaign with a home victory over the Dragons.

Tries from Graeme Morrison and Fergus Thomson sealed the win for the home side and although they had some shaky spells, their pace behind the scrum always had the visitors in trouble.

It was all Glasgow in the opening minutes and although DTH van der Merwe was adjudged to have put a foot in touch for what looked like the opening score after two minutes, the hosts kept up the early pressure.

The two teams know each other well and the Dragons defence soaked up wave after wave of Glasgow attacks until finally a penalty took Dragons downfield and in their first visit to the Warriors 22 they collected a simple score.

Andrew Coombs and Scott Morgan made inroads down the left, the ball was switched to midfield, Warriors defence edged in and when the ball reached Adam Hughes the wing crashed over unopposed.

Matthew Jones slotted the conversion and it looked as though the Dragons were again going to do what they had done so often in the past and grind the Warriors pack down until the gaps appeared.

It was then that Glasgow number 10 Ruaridh Jackson took a hand with 25 minutes gone and he proceeded to kick three penalties in quick succession as referee Jerome Garces ran out of patience with the Dragons infringing.

Then, with five minutes of the half remaining, came the score the Warriors had been threatening.

Colin Gregor scorched away and found John Barclay inside him. The Warriors skipper was hauled down inches short but rapidly recycled ball gave Morrison space to go over, giving Jackson a straightforward conversion.

At 16-7 ahead heading towards the break, the Warriors were in control, but a rush of blood to the head gave Jones the chance to bring the margin back to six points at half-time with a simple penalty.

Jones narrowed the margin further with a penalty four minutes into the second half, but then the Dragons were under the cosh for 15 minutes, and only solid midfield defence from Thomas Cheeseman and Ashley Smith kept Max Evans in particular at bay as the Warriors started to put real pace on the game.

Argentinian wing Federico Aramburu had gone close a couple of times for the Warriors and from his second dip at the line, quick ball found the Dragons way out of position and hooker Fergus Thomson went over for Glasgow's second try.

Although Jackson missed the conversion, the home side were growing in confidence.

Referee Garces was doing little to endear himself to the noisy Glasgow crowd, but the home side looked to be running the clock down successfully.

Then a Wayne Evans kick left the hobbling Bernardo Stortoni stranded and Glasgow were penned in their own 22 until man-of-the-match Gregor got them out of trouble with a couple of fine clearances, picking up a very late challenge from Robin Sowden-Taylor in the process which surprisingly went unpunished.

Jones had a last-minute attempt to salvage the bonus point but the kick fell short, a Dragons final flurry came to nothing and Glasgow had ended their losing streak.

Referee Jeromé Garces (France)
Attendance 2,597
Man of the Match Colin Gregor
Team
1
Jon Welsh
2
Fergus Thomson
3
Moray Low
4
Tom Ryder
5
Richie Gray
6
Robert Harley
7
John Barclay
8
Richie Vernon
9
Colin Gregor
10
Ruaridh Jackson
11
Federico Aramburu
12
Graeme Morrison
13
Max Evans
14
DTH van der Merwe
15
Bernardo Stortoni
Sub
Dougie Hall
Sub
Ryan Grant
Sub
Ed Kalman
Sub
Aly Muldowney
Sub
Calum Forrester
Sub
Henry Pyrgos
Sub
Duncan Weir
Sub
Rob Dewey
Match Substitutions
Off On
Tom Ryder Calum Forrester
Off On
Jon Welsh Ed Kalman
Off On
Ruaridh Jackson Duncan Weir
Off On
Fergus Thomson Dougie Hall
Off On
Jon Welsh Ryan Grant
Off On
Bernardo Stortoni Henry Pyrgos
Off On
DTH van der Merwe Rob Dewey
Scorers
Ruaridh Jackson Penalty
Ruaridh Jackson Penalty
Ruaridh Jackson Penalty
Graeme Morrison Try 
Ruaridh Jackson Conversion
Fergus Thomson Try 
Posted by ballinj on October 9, 2010 12:55 PM | Reply to this comment

would never of picked Gregor as man of the match, thought Ritchie Grey and Aramburu had far better games and were far more influential.

In general thought the performance was a big improvement. but we are still butchering overlaps with lack of composure. Two maybe three times we could of scored with at least a 3 on 2 but didn't.

Posted by Hugues on October 10, 2010 04:20 PM | Reply to this comment

Was it a good crowd?

Posted by liviwarrior on October 10, 2010 10:47 PM | Reply to this comment

Seemed more than the 2,500 quoted. Were certainly very vocal - especially at some of the poor refereeing decissions. Could have done with a few earier offloads from Max when he had men outside.

Posted by liviwarrior on October 10, 2010 10:48 PM | Reply to this comment

Seemed more than the 2,500 quoted. Were certainly very vocal - especially at some of the poor refereeing decissions. Could have done with a few earier offloads from Max when he had men outside.

Posted by Alan on October 10, 2010 10:50 PM | Reply to this comment

It is always a "good crowd" at Glasgow, as you know Hugues! The official numbers were disappointing for a European Cup game but folk may have been fed up watching the Dragons yet again! The crowd was loud, so I guess that shows it is the hard-core supporters who make the noise!

Posted by Hugues on October 11, 2010 11:52 AM | Reply to this comment

Good!
I prefer the atmosphere in Firhill than in Stade de France for a Stade Français V Perpignan.(75000 people)
Frankly, boring people, music, wrestlers before the game, etc...
But there is more money to attract big names...

Posted by Hugues on October 11, 2010 11:56 AM | Reply to this comment

Music, I mean so loud music for an hour, not bandas like in the Pays Basque.

Posted by Hugues on October 11, 2010 11:58 AM | Reply to this comment

Music, I mean too loud music with wortds in english, fed up with "life is life" not like the lively bandas from trhe Pays Basque!

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