Glasgow Warriors: (21) 21 |
Attempt: horn, williamson, stein Cons: horn 3 |
shark: (5) 10 |
Attempt: Jooste, Mchunu |
Glasgow Warriors kept their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes alive with a win over the Sharks in Scotstown.
Glasgow took the lead in the first half with tries from George Horne, Max Williamson and Kyle Stein, before Dan Joost crossed for the visitors.
Ntukho Mchunu reduced the arrears with a try for the Sharks, with Glasgow foiling an attempt to turn a comfortable lead into a bonus point victory.
Glasgow, who head to Italy to play Zebre next week, started ahead with Stein dropping inches short of the line, but on the next play Horn's quick tap penalty caught the Sharks defense and the little scrum-half dived. His path is over.
With Glasgow pushing forward again, Jack Dempsey looked to have made the wrong choice when he ignored a huge overlap from wide and forced into contact, but he brilliantly offloaded to the onrushing Williamson. I jumped over it.
The South African side responded when Jooste peeled off the back of the maul and wrestled his way to the line.
However, Glasgow scored again on the final play of the first half, with Stein scoring to give the team a brighter day at 21-5.
Glasgow knew they needed just one more goal to earn a try bonus point, but it was the Sharks who took the lead in the second half, with Mchunu scoring on a free run after Aphiwe Oyanti's brilliant offload.
The game turned into a chaotic stop-start affair with injuries appearing here and there.
Oli Kebble was among them. He came off the bench for his 100th appearance with the Warriors, but limped off minutes later.
Glasgow cruised to a relatively easy win but never really threatened their chances of winning a fourth try and bonus point.
The battle for the top four, and ideally the top two, is likely to be decided by close margins, and preserving those points could be important in the final realignment.
Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith: “I'm very happy with the win. It's great to keep winning at Scotstown and it's good for morale. We're probably disappointed that we didn't perform to the best of our clinical ability. There will be.”
“We are frustrated [not to get the bonus point]However, this team is still evolving and needs to improve further if it wants to compete on the business side. ”
lineup
Glasgow Warriors: Rowe, Stein, McDowall, Tuipulotu, Cordero, Jordan, G Horn, McBeth, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Williamson, Cummings, M Fagerson, Venter, Dempsey.
Replacement: Hiddleston, Kebble, Soldoni, Mangezi, Miller, Gordon, Dobie, Thompson.
shark: Chamberlain, Keeter, Coster, F. Venter, Dianty, Bosch, Williams, Mchunu, Jooste, Jacobs, Lahr, Grobler, Mawesele, L. Labuschagne, Hatton.
Replacement: Mbata, Mona, Koch, Van Heerden, Tsitsuka, Wright, Musk, Hooker.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)