Free-running Warriors see off wasteful Chiefs
Exeter learned on Saturday that power without control means nothing. For most of this match, Glasgow had precious little possession or territory, yet despite comprehensively losing the battle for feet and inches, the Warriors displayed deep reservoirs of tenacity in defence and a razor sharp cutting edge in attack. Together they were enough to sink the Premiership champions’ European aspirations as previously winless Glasgow claimed a bonus-point victory.
Exeter arrived at Scotstoun needing a bonus point win to guarantee their progress to the Champions Cup knockout stages, but left scratching their heads after losing a game which the stats say they utterly dominated. The first half was particularly one-sided, with Exeter having almost 80% of possession and spending long periods in Glasgow’s 22, yet the home side’s defensive obduracy and a litany of Chiefs errors meant that they failed to capitalise.
READ MORE: Burnley boss Dyche compares Sanchez deal with Harry Potter
READ MORE: Neymar and Ronaldo can play together in Madrid - Mijatovic
READ MORE: Halep prevails in record-equalling epic at Australian Open
After turning around at 7-7 despite conceding a try from the exceptional Stuart Hogg after just 71 seconds, the turning point was undoubtedly Nic White’s yellow card ten minutes into the second half. His deliberate knock-on of Finn Russell’s try-scoring pass resulted in a penalty try but, more importantly, gave the Warriors the space and momentum to force their way into the game for the first time. Finally unshackled, the Warriors backs scored two delightful length of the pitch scores while the Chiefs scrum-half was in the sin-bin. The Chiefs may have scored two tries in quick succession after that, but it was too little too late.
“I’m so disappointed because the truth is that there were too many times today when we just weren’t good enough,” said downcast Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter. “That soft early try was pretty indicative of where we were today. Some of their tries were fantastic but did we stand in front of them like a brick wall – it didn’t feel like it.”
Baxter has a point, but only to a point. He’s right to lament Glasgow’s early try, which was alarming soft, with Russell going blind and ghosting through the Chief’s defence before feeding George Horne, the little scrum-half then putting in Hogg with barely a minute on the clock.
Yet the Chiefs’ failings were manifest. In the red zone they constantly knocked-on, infringed at a ruck or misplaced a simple pass. Some commendably aggressive Glasgow defence played its part though, with skipper Jonny Gray and Matt Fagerson to the fore, the teenage flanker being named man of the match for an outstandingly gritty display on his second European outing. Crucially, the Warriors also succeeded in stopping the Chiefs drive which had swayed the first game between these sides.
Even when Exeter managed to get over the line they couldn’t seal the deal, Ian Whitten crashing over midway through the first half only for Huw Jones to prevent him grounding.
Still, Exeter’s sheer power certainly took its toll on Glasgow, with hooker George Turner, centre Alex Dunbar and openside Matt Smith all retiring injured early on. With Glasgow’s first-half tackle count creeping into the stratosphere, when Sam Simmonds capitalised on one of Glasgow’s four lineout overthrows to muscle over seconds before half-time, Exeter looked set to kick on after the break.
Instead, it was Glasgow who upped the ante after the restart. Russell, who had looked sharp on the few occasions when Glasgow got their mitts on the ball before the break, went blind and was about to put replacement hooker Stewart into the corner when White left referee Romain Poite with no option but to sin-bin him for a deliberate knock-on and award a penalty try.
That need not have been a turning point, but Exeter failed to reorganise and when Glasgow won the ball in their own 22, Russell broke blind and put Hogg away down the wing. The fullback fed the ball inside, with the onrushing George Horne feeding Tommy Seymour to go over for a converted try which gave the Scots a 21-7 lead.
Two minutes later that lead stretched to 21 points when Hogg again broke from deep and fed Seymour, who crashed through Exeter’s backpedalling defensive line. The move ended with Fagerson crashing through Olly Woodburn’s tackle for Glasgow’s bonus point try.
The emptying of the Exeter bench galvanised the Chiefs, and with Sam Simmonds leading the fightback they registered two soft tries in succession. The first came with fifteen minutes remaining when Joe Simmonds pirouetted through four would-be Warriors tacklers only to fall over with the tryline beckoning, although Don Armand then powered over. Moments later Whitten atoned for his squandered first-half opportunity by going over in the corner.
It was all too late though, and Glasgow comfortably closed out the last ten minutes, aided by a seemingly never-ending series of unforced knock-ons from the thoroughly out-of-sorts Chiefs.
For a Glasgow side which triumphed with just two of their first choice pack on display, this pyrrhic victory provided a bittersweet taste of what could have been. “We’re last in the pool but we felt that if we’d been a bit sharper we could have got a win at Exeter, and I still feel we should have won both those Montpellier games,” said head coach Dave Rennie. “But you’ve got to be good enough to take your chances and we haven’t been.”
For Exeter, there was no sweetness, just the bitter memory of a priceless opportunity squandered.
