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April 02, 2017

Saracens 38 - 13 Glasgow Warriors

Champions Cup match played at Allianz Park on Sunday April 2nd 2017 | No comments

Lee Jones went over for Glasgow's opening try
Glasgow's European hopes ended at Allianz Park this afternoon as they lost out to an impressive Saracens side.

Saracens will now face Munster in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup and it will take a very good team to stop them successfully defending their title.

Glasgow contributed 6,000 of a record 15,000 sell-out at that number and the noise and colour generated by the Warriors' supporters contributed to a fine occasion.

On the pitch, Warriors withstood an early onslaught and were forced to make two try-saving tackles at the corner flags inside the opening five minutes after Saracens plundered an early turnover and counter-attacked.

First Lee Jones kept out Ashton and then Stuart Hogg denied Sean Maitland and having weathered the initial storm, Glasgow settled and Finn Russell put over a penalty, but Saracens edged ahead with Owen Farrell kicking three penalties of his own.

Glasgow suffered an injury blow with Jonny Gray taking a head knock and failing to return after an HIA.

Saracens crossed the whitewash on the 30-minute mark with Chris Ashton rolling over the line as despairing Glasgow defenders sought to halt his progress.

Just after that, Ashton could have been over for a second only for Stuart Hogg to nudge the wing into touch and the teams went in with Saracens leading 14-3

Warriors were still in the game as the second-half started and a clever kick from Finn Russell was collected by Lee Jones who broke through two defenders for a try in the corner.

At 14-8 behind, and with more possession and territory, Warriors looked in good position for the comeback but some poor kicking from hand gave the initiative back to Saracens who needed no second invitation to build up the pressure once more.

A clearance reached only as far as Ashton and following runs from Billy Vunipola and Brad Barritt, the ball was fed to Marcelo Bosch who stepped his way past some tired tackles to cross the line.

In the closing ten minutes Barritt touched down and Ashton grabbed his second before flanker Ryan Wilson scored a consolation for the Warriors.

Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend: "We're obviously disappointed. We put in huge effort to get here and we didn't deliver.

"Saracens did a number of things very well, their physicality when carrying the ball being one of them. The pace they played at was excellent. They were outstanding.

"To click so well straight after the Six Nations is a credit to their coaches and their players. On this form they will be very hard to beat.

"A French journalist spoke to me at the start of year and said Saracens are going to win Europe, saying they're unbeatable.

"And when you see them play like that, they're very difficult to beat. They've expanded their game. They got their back three on the ball a lot. They were excellent."

Referee Jerome Garces (France)
Attendance 15,000
Team
1
Gordon Reid
2
Fraser Brown
3
Zander Fagerson
4
Brian Alainu'uese
5
Jonny Gray
6
Robert Harley
7
Ryan Wilson
8
Adam Ashe
9
Henry Pyrgos
10
Finn Russell
11
Lee Jones
12
Peter Horne
13
Alex Dunbar
14
Tommy Seymour
15
Stuart Hogg
Sub
Corey Flynn
Sub
Alex Allan
Sub
Sila Puafisi
Sub
Greg Peterson
Sub
Chris Fusaro
Sub
Ali Price
Sub
Nick Grigg
Sub
Rory Hughes
Match Substitutions
Off On
Jonny Gray Greg Peterson
Off On
Zander Fagerson Sila Puafisi
Off On
Fraser Brown Corey Flynn
Off On
Gordon Reid Alex Allan
Off On
Henry Pyrgos Ali Price
Off On
Peter Horne Nick Grigg
Off On
Greg Peterson Chris Fusaro
Off On
Stuart Hogg Rory Hughes
Scorers
Finn Russell Penalty
Lee Jones Try 
Ryan Wilson Try