Glasgow Warriors 37
Munster 10
Lewis Stuart reports from Scotstoun.
A DISASTROUS NIGHT for Munster was made even worse when they had a man, replacement Fineen Wycherley, sent off late in the game having already surrendered four tries and a bonus point as the Scots ran riot in their home patch.
Games between these teams have usually been close but from the start the Irish were up against it, with the Scots starting the stronger, and keeping it going.
They quickly took a 10 point lead when Darren Sweetnam, the wing, missed his opposite number, Leonardo Sarto, to give the Italian the space to run in the opening try for the Scottish side. Finn Russell, the fly half, converted and soon added a penalty.
That only brought out the best in Munster, however. When they did eventually get their hands on the ball, they swept into the attack, coming close to a try from a set line out move that ended with Rhys Marshall, the hooker only inches short.
It soon got even better as the men in red played on with a penalty advantage coming, allowing Rory Scannell, the centre to loop outside Sweetnam and run in their opening try.
Tyler Bleyendaal, however, missed the conversion and later added a second miss from a penalty, handing the initiative back to Glasgow. A Russell penalty edged them further ahead and they made Munster pay for some sloppy defending as they ran the kick-off back at the Irish with flanker Callum Gibbins doing the hard work and Lee Jones, the wing, finishing.
Munster’s task soon got even tougher when, with Billy Holland, the lock, in the sin bin for pulling down a maul, the Scots got lucky with the ball bouncing off Jones straight into the arms of Nick Grigg for their third try.
Fortune soon evened out when Chris Farrell, the centre, intercepted a loose Glasgow pass and ran in the score, but by now Glasgow were raising the pace of the game at every opportunity and Munster were struggling to cope.
In the end, the bonus point try came for the Scots as Sarto broke a series of weak tackles around the 22 and found lock Scott Cummings with the offload that sent him in for the try and with the Russell keeping up his perfect kicking record, Munster were in deep trouble, made worse when Wycherley hit opposition lock Tim. Swinson with his shoulder and saw red.
Scorers:Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Leonardo Sarto, Lee Jones, Nick Grigg, Scott Cummings
Conversion: Russell [4 from 4]
Penalty: Russell [3 from 3]Munster:
Tries: Rory Scannell, Chris Farrell
Conversions: Bleyendaal [0 from 2]Penalty: Bleyendaal [0 from 1]
Glasgow Warriors: Ruaridh Jackson; Lee Jones, Nick Grigg, Peter Horne (Sam Johnson, 75), Rory Hughes (Leonardo Sarto, 3); Finn Russell (Sam Johnson, 38-ht), Ali Price (Henry Pyrgos, 66); Jamie Bhatti (Alex Allan, 56’), George Turner (Pat MacArthur, 56’), Zander Fagerson (D’Arcy Rae, 56’-75’), Tim Swinson (Scott Cummings, 75), Scott Cummings (Brian Alainu’uese, 66), Ryan Wilson (C), Callum Gibbins, Adam Ashe (Rob Harley, 56).
Munster: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam (Simon Zebo, 46‘), Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; Tyler Bleyendaal (C) (Jaute Taute, 46‘), Duncan Williams (James Hart, 48‘); Liam O’Connor (David Kilcoyne, 50‘), Rhys Marshall (Niall Scannell, 54‘), Stephen Archer, Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland (sin bin: 44-54), Sean O’Connor (Robin Copeland, 18‘), Tommy O’Donnell, Jack O’Donoghue (Fineen Wycherley, 38‘ sent off: 77).
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
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