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November 20, 2011

Leinster Rugby 38 - 13 Glasgow Warriors

Heineken Cup match played at RDS on Sunday November 20th 2011 | One comment

Henry Pyrgos went over for Glasgow's only try
Glasgow's five-match winning streak came to a halt in Dublin, with head coach Sean Lineen offering no excuses.

"We got well and truly spanked, didn't we?" said Sean.

"In the first half there was only one team in it. Leinster won the contact battle hands down, both in attack and in defence.

"We talked during the week about winning the space beyond the ball but they won that battle very easily.

"It was a walk in the park in that first half and the game was over."

Following their 26-21 defeat of Bath in their pool opener, Sean was hoping to back up that performance against Leinster, but they lacked the intensity of the hosts.

"Leinster were direct, very abrasive as we knew they were going to be," Lineen added.

"You look at four or five instances where they stripped the ball from us, like candy from a baby.

"It was men against boys at times and the guys are better than that. We played some good rugby at times, but we have found out what it's like to play the Heineken Cup champions on their doorstep.

"This is the Heineken Cup. We wanted to back up the performance against Bath and we didn't do that.

"They have got some quality players and if you don't front up against Leinster you are going to get punished, and we did."

Duncan Weir, Glasgow's man-of-the-match in last weekend's win over Bath, banged over a long-range penalty in the third minute to nudge the Warriors ahead.

But right from the restart, Leinster capitalised on an error from the visitors to put Kearney over in the right corner. Sexton hung up a cross-field kick for Nacewa and he drew the tackle before feeding Kearney for the score.

The conversion was expertly added from wide out by Sexton, whose half-back partner Reddan was to the forefront of a bright opening spell.

Stuart Hogg rampaged downfield to bring the Warriors into the hosts' 22 but the home defence held firm and Nacewa's kick chase on the right led to Sexton hammering over a penalty, having earlier missed one from the other side.

Glasgow replied through the boot of Weir, who split the posts after Leinster's Toner was sin-binned for pulling down a player at a lineout.

However, Leinster were beginning to find their rhythm in attack and they went for the jugular when Sexton took a quick tap. Having been pulled to the left and right, Glasgow were caught out by their posts as Heaslip powered into contact and O'Malley snuck over from the ruck.

Six minutes later, Heaslip broke from a scrum in the Scots' 22 and when play was swept back into midfield, D'Arcy's superb short pass sent O'Malley darting through for his second seven-pointer.

Glasgow's share of possession dwindled as half-time approached and some neat interplay between O'Brien and Nacewa sent D'Arcy over to the right of the posts.

Sexton tagged on his fourth successful conversion, giving Glasgow a mountain to climb at 31-6 down. They pressed early in the second half, with Ryan Wilson being brought down just inches short of the try-line.

Al Kellock and Richie Gray were prominent as Sean Lineen's side raised the tempo, with winger Tommy Seymour unfortunate to knock on in plenty of space.

Glasgow were the aggressors for much of the closing half hour, Leinster seemingly content to empty their bench and trust their defence.

They were caught out when Troy Nathan thundered straight through a 74th-minute ruck and passed for fellow replacement Pyrgos to touch down, with Weir converting.

But Leinster finished the game on the attack, a half-break from Madigan and Jennings' deft one-handed flick creating the opening for Boss to round off a satisfying Sunday afternoon for the province.

Referee Andrew Small (England)
Attendance 17,900
Team
1
Ryan Grant
2
Pat MacArthur
3
Michael Cusack
4
Alastair Kellock
5
Richie Gray
6
Robert Harley
7
John Barclay
8
Ryan Wilson
9
Chris Cusiter
10
Duncan Weir
11
Colin Shaw
12
Graeme Morrison
13
Peter Murchie
14
Tommy Seymour
15
Stuart Hogg
Sub
Finlay Gillies
Sub
Jon Welsh
Sub
Ed Kalman
Sub
Tom Ryder
Sub
Chris Fusaro
Sub
Henry Pyrgos
Sub
Troy Nathan
Sub
Federico Aramburu
Match Substitutions
Off On
John Barclay Chris Fusaro
Off On
Michael Cusack Ed Kalman
Off On
Colin Shaw Federico Aramburu
Off On
Alastair Kellock Tom Ryder
Off On
Chris Cusiter Henry Pyrgos
Off On
Pat MacArthur Finlay Gillies
Off On
Ryan Grant Jon Welsh
Off On
Peter Murchie Troy Nathan
Scorers
Duncan Weir Penalty
Duncan Weir Penalty
Henry Pyrgos Try 
Duncan Weir Conversion
Posted by Chris on November 21, 2011 01:43 PM | Reply to this comment

This is the sort of performance that makes Glasgow (and indeed Edinburgh) fans despair. Lots of big talk before the match about what we are expecting. We get what we are expecting and presumably have prepared for and...................we're still caught 'with our pants down'. That first half was embarassing, the second half pointless. No wonder we have trouble building consistent levels of support.

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