Glasgow Warriors 33
Leinster 25
Lewis Stuart reports from Scotstoun Stadium
LEINSTER WERE MADE to rue the absence of their Ireland stars when they allowed a full-strength Glasgow Warriors side to recover from 10 points down to record their second bonus point win of the Pro12.
Scotland wing Tommy Seymour claimed an incredible four tries.
Leinster had taken full advantage of playing with the wind in the first half to score three tries and went into the break with a seven-point lead, which they quickly increased, but then fell away in the finale.
The Irish had dominated both possession and territory in the opening 50 minutes, but made heavy weather of scoring with a number of early line breaks being squandered when the ball went straight to Glasgow players.
Instead, it was the home side who struck first — an extended series of attacks being finished on the wing by Seymour. Leinster hit back with Jordi Murphy crashing through the Glasgow line and this time Rob Kearney made no mistake with the finish wide out.
Glasgow responded and the home forwards again did the damage with lock Tim Swinson rashing over, but that only brought the best out of Leinster, who were denied one score when their maul was driven into touch before they could get the ball down.
But they kept up the pressure for Josh van der Flier to find a gap close to the ruck and race in.
Better still was to follow when a delightful piece of skill from young fly half Joey Carbery with an inch-perfect cross kick gave Zane Kirchner his side’s third try and Carbery delivered again soon after the break with an early penalty to put his side in charge. That was as good as it got.
Two moments of madness when Leinster had the ball in their own 22 handed Seymour a pair of gift scores — one an interception, the other running back a dropped pass — that put the Scots back in front.
A Carberry penalty cut the deficit to a single point but Seymour had the final word with his fourth try on a set-piece move from a scrum.
Glasgow Warriors scorers:
Tries: Tommy Seymour 4, Tim Swinson,
Conversions: Pyrgos (3 from 5)
Penalties: Pyrgos (0 from 1), Hogg (0 from 1)
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Rob Kearney, Josh van der Flier, Zane Kirchner
Conversions: Joey Carbery (2 from 3)
Penalties: Carberry (2 from 2)
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Stuart Hogg; Leonardo Sarto (sin bin: 35-45, Lee Jones, ’68), Alex Dunbar, Sam Johnson, Tommy Seymour; Peter Horne, Henry Pyrgos (C); Gordon Reid (Alex Allan, ’68), Fraser Brown (Corey Flynn, ’68), Sila Puafisi (Zander Fagerson, ’48), Tim Swinson (Tijuee Uanivi, ’76), Jonny Gray (C), Rob Harley, Simone Favaro (Lewis Wynne, ’68), Ryan Wilson.
LEINSTER: Rob Kearney (Rory O’Loughlin, ’58); Zane Kirchner, Gary Ringrose, Noel Reid, Dave Kearney; Joey Carbery (Cathal Marsh, ’76), Luke McGrath (C)(Jamison Gibson-Park, ’63); Cian Healy (Peter Dooley, ’58), James Tracy (Bryan Byrne, ’58), Michael Bent (Mick Kearney, ’58), Tadgh Furlong, ’47), Mike McCarthy, Ross Molony, Daniel Leavy (Dominic Ryan, ’70), Josh van der Flier, Jordi Murphy.
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
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