Glasgow Warriors v Connacht, 11 September

First topic message reminder :

                      
Glasgow Warriors v Connacht Rugby
Friday 11 September
KO: 19:35
Scotstoun, Glasgow

Live on BBCS/TG4

Referee: Ian Davies (WRU, 33rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White, Mike Adamson (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: Iain Goodall (SRU)
TMO: Iain Ramage (SRU)

A. Head to Head

26 Played 24
16 Wins 7
7 Losses 16
3 Draws 3
67 Tries 45
46 Conversions 33
54 Penalties 52
2 Drop Goals 5
595 Points 462

B. Form

Sat 25 April 2015
Connacht Rugby 13 - 31 Glasgow Warriors

Fri 26 Sept 2014
Glasgow Warriors 39 - 21 Connacht Rugby

C. Teams

Glasgow Warriors

15. Glenn Bryce
14. Junior Bulumakau
13. Peter Murchie (Captain)
12. Fraser Lyle
11. Lee Jones
10. Rory Clegg
9. Mike Blair

1. Alex Allan
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Mike Cusack
4. Scott Cummings
5. Kieran Low
6. Rob Harley
7. Chris Fusaro
8. Adam Ashe

16. Kevin Bryce
17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa
18. Zander Fagerson
19. James Eddie
20. Tyrone Holmes
21. Hugh Blake
22. Grayson Hart
23. Scott Wight

Connacht Rugby

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Danie Poolman
13. Rory Parata
12. Bundee Aki
11. Matt Healy
10. Jack Carty
9. John Cooney

1. Denis Buckley
2. Tom McCartney
3. Rodney Ah You
4. Quinn Roux
5. Andrew Browne
6. John Muldoon (captain)
7. Nepia Fox-Matamua
8. Eoghan Masterson

16. Dave Heffernan
17. JP Cooney
18. Finlay Bealham
19. Ultan Dillane
20. Ben Marshall
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Craig Ronaldson
23. Fionn Carr

Squeaky bum time!

At least the ref realises there are two teams playing this half...

That was all because of an awful kick by Scott Wight

Think it was a mistake putting Wight on at 10 and moving Clegg - surely Hart could have filled in on the wing without changing the whole shape?

Has to be a card!

Absolute textbook example of a yellow that - attacking team going through several phases near the line and professional foul ruins it

Penalty gone the wrong way there. Gethin Jenkins impersonation from Connacht goes unpunished

Harley is too polite to be captain

TMO just cost glasgow that try! Unbelievable c0ck up!

Eeeek!

What the hell happened there

A Simply Mesmeric Try wrote:TMO just cost glasgow that try! Unbelievable c0ck up!

Not necessarily. If it had been found to not be a penalty offence, then Connacht had that advantage.

Glasgows change in forward coach seems to be going well

TMO needs his books for that stuff up. That's just complete incompetence. The ref even told him what time to look at!

Imperialbigdave wrote:

A Simply Mesmeric Try wrote:TMO just cost glasgow that try! Unbelievable c0ck up!

Not necessarily. If it had been found to not be a penalty offence, then Connacht had that advantage.

True but at the same time there was a serious communication breakdown that shouldn't have happened!

Stranger things have happened I suppose.

What a nerve shredder this game has turned out to be!

To be fair to the TMO, he said the tech people couldn't find the clip. Although they maybe have been totally confused what they were looking for!

Majestic83 wrote:Glasgows change in forward coach seems to be going well  

We need some forwards to coach!

This sounds like a horror show. How long to go?

Only seen the 2nd half of this game, has it been a real tale of 2 halfs? Glasgows pack have been played of the park in the 2nd half.

Holy crap that was stressful, but massive win Glasgow!

Never in doubt!

JO BRAND!?!?!?

Better team lost....

Strewth. What an ending

Well we will take that one in the knowledge that we can only improve. Can't fault the effort though, Cummings continues to impress and was close to being MoM, Bryce G had a decent game as well as did Lyle once he got over his early fumbles. We will stay in the pack for now and can only improve as some reinforcements arrive.

GLove39 wrote:To be fair to the TMO, he said the tech people couldn't find the clip. Although they maybe have been totally confused what they were looking for!

Absolutely. Right decision - get the game moving on. We cannot spend ages debating and looking ( I'm a glasgow supporter for this match )

Will need to see the whole game but it sounds like replacing (a) the familiar Newcastle hinge with Hart and Suspiciously Old Scott and (b) the complete front row, may have been tactical errors on Toonie's part.

Are we just expecting too much from a young soapdodger side groaning under the weight of absentees? From that starting line up, probably only Cusack, Harley, Fozzy and Hart are definitely in our first choice 23.

ME-109 wrote:Better team lost....

Very hard to argue with that. Glasgow's tight 5 are awful and were murdered.

I think it was a game in Italy last season that Townsend had to take Fagerson off after about 25 minutes because his technique meant he was getting penalised at every scrum. Ig he hadleft him on,he would have been carded (like tinight!)

I know I have said it before but Scott Wight is not a professional rugby player. While it is difficult to pin point a single turning point of momentum, Wight hoofing the ball aimlessly downfield and over the deadball line must be close to it.

Well played Connacht. You will beat better teams than the one you faced tonight.

What a great game. Well done to both sets of players and the ref. Highly entertaining. NO one gave up. Pat Lam changed the tactics against conventional wisdom and it worked. Result in doubt right to the final whistle.

A few Glasgow boys became men tonight

InjuredYetAgain wrote:

I know I have said it before but Scott Wight is not a professional rugby player. While it is difficult to pin point a single turning point of momentum, Wight hoofing the ball aimlessly downfield and over the deadball line must be close to it.

.

I disagree - if that ball had gone into touch in the corner it would have been a great play. Absolutely the right thing to do but not executed perfectly with almost disastrous results. a couple of m made the difference between hero and goat

Connacht will feel that's one that got away, but some great scrapping from Glasgow to squeeze over the line in the end. A bit of an education for young Fagerson in the second half.

Still, win in the bag and Glasgow are up and running.

George Carlin wrote:Will need to see the whole game but it sounds like replacing (a) the familiar Newcastle hinge with Hart and Suspiciously Old Scott and (b) the complete front row, may have been tactical errors on Toonie's part.

Are we just expecting too much from a young soapdodger side groaning under the weight of absentees? From that starting line up, probably only Cusack, Harley, Fozzy and Hart are definitely in our first choice 23.

Based on Blair tonight and Pyrgos in the Scotland warm-ups, in don't see Hart as in your first choice 23. In fact I don't think Fozzy makes it either, and there's a big question mark over Harley.

1.Reid 2.Brown 3.Cusack 4.J Gray 5.Naka 6.Strauss 7.Blake 8.Ashe 9.Pyrgos 10.Russell 11.Big T 12.Dunbar 13.Bennett 14.Seymour 15.Hogg

16.Grant 17.MacArthur 18.Fagerson 19.Swinson 20.Wilson 21.Blair 22.Weir 23.Lamont

That's how I see it anyway.

At the end of the season it will go down for 4 points Glasgow, but it certainly was one that could and should have gotten away. They know how to win games though and have proved that over the past few years. The real season will start after the WC for Glasgow.

Agree. The point I'm making is that Glasgow are down to the absolute bare bones and these points are very much a bonus.

TJ wrote:

InjuredYetAgain wrote:

I know I have said it before but Scott Wight is not a professional rugby player. While it is difficult to pin point a single turning point of momentum, Wight hoofing the ball aimlessly downfield and over the deadball line must be close to it.

.

I disagree - if that ball had gone into touch in the corner it would have been a great play.  Absolutely the right thing to do but not executed perfectly with almost disastrous results.  a couple of m made the difference between hero and goat

If it had gone into touch, it would have been a great kick BUT it didn't ergo he falls into the "goat" category. Why not play safer and go for touch at the 22? Using your line of thought, I could say that if my todger was bigger, I would have been "normal" - it isn't and I am not (actually,that was a bad analogy to use but you get my drift, I hope) He must have realised that the wind at his back was a huge variable. Let's also not forget his huge vertical punt up (no, it's not rhyming slang) soon after it. I'm afraid he has had too many chances and never shown anything to make you think he could make it at pro level.

it wasn't an aimless hoof down the field tho - it was an attempted touch kick that went wrong

funnyExiledScot wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Will need to see the whole game but it sounds like replacing (a) the familiar Newcastle hinge with Hart and Suspiciously Old Scott and (b) the complete front row, may have been tactical errors on Toonie's part.

Are we just expecting too much from a young soapdodger side groaning under the weight of absentees? From that starting line up, probably only Cusack, Harley, Fozzy and Hart are definitely in our first choice 23.

Based on Blair tonight and Pyrgos in the Scotland warm-ups, in don't see Hart as in your first choice 23. In fact I don't think Fozzy makes it either, and there's a big question mark over Harley.

1.Reid 2.Brown 3.Cusack 4.J Gray 5.Naka 6.Strauss 7.Blake 8.Ashe 9.Pyrgos 10.Russell 11.Big T 12.Dunbar 13.Bennett 14.Seymour 15.Hogg

16.Grant 17.MacArthur 18.Fagerson 19.Swinson 20.Wilson 21.Blair 22.Weir 23.Lamont

That's how I see it anyway.

Fagerson, so good they named him twice!

Agree about Hart, not set the heather alight yet, would like to see Price get a run out at some stage as well.

That is a very different side to the one that played today and shows what we have got missing. Shows as well what a good 4 points that may prove to be!

FES - question mark over Harley? Many of us thought he should be in the scotland squad and I thought he played really well tonight

I agree TJ, but I just don't see him as a lock, and Strauss has the 6 jersey nailed down. You could switch him with Swinson or Wilson in my suggested 23, or even drop Ashe, but I don't think it's clear cut that Harley makes the 23.

I thought Bundee Aki was a menace in the second half. Happily swap him for Andries Strauss!

Again tho - rugby is an entertainment business and boy was that entertaining. Cracking game

Agreed, a proper contest with momentum swings and individual breaks. Thoroughly enjoyed it and delighted by the outcome.

Yup. One of the best games for a while - not quite up there with the Pro 12 final, though. Connacht had a good blend of forward power and some pretty nippy backs whereas Glasgow's offloading quick tempo stuff in the first half was hard to live with.
In hindsight, I wonder if Toonie regrets taking Blair off.

I thi8nk swapping the whole front row at 45 mins might be a mistake

Glasgow have announced a friendly against the Army on the 25th September during the Pro 12 break - surely that is a bad idea given how stretched the squad is??

RDW_Scotland wrote:Glasgow have announced a friendly against the Army on the 25th September during the Pro 12 break - surely that is a bad idea given how stretched the squad is??

There are still plenty of the academy kids to give a game to, really should not need that strong a team to be competitive. Need to keep the squad ticking over as well until the season really gets going.

Hmmm, bad decision on my part. After the first half it looked like Glasgow had the game wrapped up and I had things to do so I asked myself, 'do the things and have them done or watch the game first?'
seems I walked away from a great game....

Oh well, that's another thing that's wrong with the Pro12. They don't text you to tell you the game you just turned off is getting good! Disgraceful.

On the Harley debate, I know its been done to death, but until he carries more aggresively, he will never nail down the 6 shirt for Scotland. There was one point in the first half where he took the ball running at full speed in the wide channel at an outside back and got stopped dead in his tracks without the Connacht player even having to go particularly low. A man of his size should be running over the top of people as Cummings, a teenager showed how to tonight.

Harley held the starting 6 shirt (with Strauss at 8) for fully 3 years. There's a reason for that and I wouldn't have Ashe instead of him. Familiarity breeding a little contempt, it seems.

Effectively Connacht lost that game because they had a try disallowed because it wasn't in "the spirit of the game" - has that ever happened before?

The funniest moment was John Beattie saying "I'm not biased", absolutely hilarious!

The Great Aukster wrote:Effectively Connacht lost that game because they had a try disallowed because it wasn't in "the spirit of the game" - has that ever happened before?

The funniest moment was John Beattie saying "I'm not biased", absolutely hilarious!

Leaving the 'spirit of the game' issue aside, the ball clearly did not go 5 metres, so it was never a try anyway. Still a pretty stupid thing for Junior to have done though, I doubt he will do that again.