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February 25, 2011Glasgow Warriors 16 - 16 Newport Gwent DragonsGUINNESS PRO14 match played at Firhill on Friday February 25th 2011 | 5 comments
Duncan Weir grabbed 11 points but had a mixed night with the boot Glasgow Warriors snatched a dramatic 16-16 draw with Newport Gwent Dragons at Firhill to regain some pride after the loss at Connacht last weekend. Aly Muldowney's last minute try, converted by Duncan Weir, denied the Welsh side a Magners League victory. A try from second-row Andrew Coombs, converted by Jason Tovey - who also added a penalty - and two penalties from Mathew Jones proved to be insufficient as the visitors failed to hang on to their advantage. Dragons took an early lead after the game's first period of any meaningful pressure. Despite the fact that the majority of attacking movement was lateral, the visitors' persistence paid off as the home defence coughed up a penalty 15 metres from the line and fly-half Mathew Jones stroked over the kick. Weir had an early opportunity to cancel the deficit, but his penalty effort from the halfway line was pushed wide. Minutes later, Glasgow were made to pay for the young fly-half's profligacy when Jones converted a penalty effort from the 40 metre mark to stretch his side's advantage. The Dragons almost added to their lead moments later, when slick handling in midfield allowed full-back William Harries to dart towards the corner - however a last-ditch covering tackle from home winger Hefin O'Hare averted the danger. James Eddie, along with fellow back-row forwards Ryan Wilson and Calum Forrester, were proving a handful around the fringes. It was their interplay which resulted in Weir having another penalty opportunity - but again he pushed his effort wide of the uprights. A further opportunity went was squandered 10 minutes before half-time, Weir skewing his penalty attempt horribly wide from an admittedly testing position tight to the touchline. It did not take long for him to make amends after the restart however, punishing the Dragons for an infringement at the scrum with a successful penalty, before adding another three-pointer on the 55-minute mark to level the scores after good forward pressure . The visitors found another gear. First, winger Adam Hughes engineered a one on one, chipping over the towering Canadian flyer DTH van der Merve, only to fail to gather the ball as it bobbled across the rough Firhill surface with the try-line at his mercy. The score was delayed only briefly, and when Henry Pyrgos had a box kick yards from his own line charged down, the Dragons grabbed back the lead, Andrew Coombs flopping over the ball to touch down. Replacement fly-half Tovey added the straightforward extras. A third successful Weir penalty kept the hosts within touching distance, but Tovey's penalty minutes from the end appeared enough to secure his side victory. In the dying moments, referee Peter Fitzgibbon reduced the Dragons to 14 men, replacement prop Benjamin Castle sent to the sin-bin for a cynical foul at the breakdown. The resulting play led to Weir bundling over the visitors' try-line, only to be held up. However, from the ensuing scrum, second row Muldowney powered over beneath the posts. And it was left to Weir to add the conversion to hand the hosts a deserved draw. After the game, head coach Sean Lineen said: “I’m delighted with the way the players stuck in after what has been a very challenging week. I’m really pleased for them because of the huge amount of effort they have put in. “They have to take some confidence from that.”
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Posted by Alistair Hutton on February 26, 2011 08:20 AM | Reply to this comment Brilliant effort from the boys, and when I say boys I mean boys. I went to the game expecting a hammering, I came away disappointed we didn't win. Posted by johnnyboy on February 26, 2011 12:29 PM | Reply to this comment Pretty much agree with you went along out of loyalty and hope rather than expectation and was very pleasantly surprised. While I don’t believe that we have seen the end of Dan Parks if Jackson performs on Sunday the dilemma then will be that Glasgow will have the best two prospects at number 10. While it is good that they push each other too really kick on game time is of paramount importance for both of them how could this be achieved? There is no point in both playing a cameo role and then warming there backside on the bench for a period. Solution would be to move one to Edinburgh so they both play week in week out then we would really see who could cut it consistently. Posted by Stellenbosch on February 26, 2011 09:54 AM | Reply to this comment Big games from James Eddie and Tom Ryder. Get Eddie signed up for next season. Posted by Alistair Hutton on February 26, 2011 11:32 AM | Reply to this comment Agreed, Jedi had an immense game for a player out for so long. Posted by Hugues on February 26, 2011 11:09 AM | Reply to this comment A scrappy game, however the Warriors deserved the draw, even the win if more clinical. Add a comment to this articleIf 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.
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